Loving the Impossible
by Dr. Christie
Summary: The Meta-Crisis Doctor and Rose have been traveling for three years now in the parallel universe. What will happen when an old acquaintance, with a new face, appears on their TARDIS?  T for some violence later in the story
1. Strangers

The Meta-Crisis Doctor and Rose have been traveling for three years now in the parallel universe. What will happen when an old acquaintance**, **with a new face, appears on their TARDIS?

Not that great of a summary

I sadly do not own Doctor Who.

This is my first Fanfic, it's based somewhere after A Good Man Goes to War, some spoilers for the sixth season I guess, so here goes-**  
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**Chapter 1 **

**Strangers**

_Deep in the Time Vortex_

The TARDIS flew smoothly through the Time Vortex, making it easy for the Time Lord/Human to wander the halls without too much trouble. He was thinking so fast that even his superior mind couldn't keep up at times. He was also having trouble concentrating with the random thoughts popping up in his mind.

The TARDIS, Rose, his Human/Time Lord biology, how much smoother the TARDIS ran in this parallel world, what his original self was doing, had he regenerated?

The Doctor paused in his wanderings to take a slow deep breath. He had been in this parallel world for nearly three years. At first Rose had been having trouble adapting to the fact that he was, well closer to being a human than the original Doctor. After a while, Rose had warmed up to him and they had finalized their relationship by marrying. The TARDIS had grown fully, just in time for the honeymoon, much quicker than expected in fact. Everything seemed to work better in this universe.

The Doctor smiled at that. It was true. He and Rose were finally together.

He started walking again, thinking about mainly anything that popped into his head. Rose was back in his room asleep. Even though he was more human now and need more sleep than his Time Lord, original self, his mind still worked as fast as before. He hadn't been able to sleep, so to make sure Rose wasn't disturbed he had started wandering the TARDIS halls when he got into one of these moods. Random thoughts flashing through his head.

He looked around to get his bearings, turned around, turned left and headed in the direction of the console room, intending to send the TARDIS somewhere that he and Rose could relax that wasn't inside his, truth be told amazingly amazing time machine/space ship. This universe seemed to have even more planets in need of saving then the one they came from. As he entered, the time rotor moving with its rhythmic pattern caught his attention. It was the wrong color.

Instead of the expected greenish aqua color it normally was it was clear. And not only that, instead of the normal vertical cylinders inside, it had something that bared resemblance to blown glass, or bubbles sitting on top of each other.

Looking around, the Doctor noticed that the floor of the console room, normally grating, was now glass, but the usual ramp that led to the outer door was still there, but it passed by an unfamiliar sight, a large circular view screen in the wall.

He heard voices coming from behind him, down the hall. The Doctor turned and saw three people walking towards him. Three people he was positive had not been on the TARDIS when he and Rose had come in.

* * *

><p>"Amy, you aren't understanding at all," The Doctor said, holding his hands up to emphasize his point, "It's a diamond planet, as in, it's a diamond… that's a planet."<p>

"So it's a huge floating diamond… in space?" Rory asked, even more confused than his wife.

"Yes!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"And someone owns it?" Amy said, "'Cause you said someone owned it."

"Yes," The Doctor replied. They had been in the kitchen eating breakfast when he had brought up the prospect of visiting Diamond World, named by the incredibly imaginative Slen McDreans, the owner.

"Must've cost a lot," Amy said, adjusting her red scarf, they had decided to visit the planet so they were on their way to the console room to start the journey.

"It did, in fact," The Doctor took a breath about to go into a long, and detailed life story of Mr. McDreans, but he was interrupted by Rory.

"Umm, Doctor?" Rory said.

"What is it Rory?" The Doctor said annoyed.

"Is that a person?" Rory had stopped walking and was now pointing down the hall to what seemed to be a person.

The Doctor continued to walk and soon he could make out the features of this mysterious stowaway.

He was wearing a tight-fitting suit, brown with blue pinstripes, and a blue tie. The stripes seemed to make him seem even taller than he was, leading from his converse clad feet to his messy, brown hair. His eyes were brown and he currently was staring at the three friends with his mouth open.

"What?" The stranger said looking between the three.

* * *

><p>The Doctor spun around to stare at the three people walking towards him. There were two men walking on either side of a woman. The man on the left had stopped walking and was pointing at the Doctor with his mouth open, seemingly mimicking the Doctor's own reaction.<p>

The man on the left had shorter messy, lighter brown hair than the Doctor and his nose was longer. He was wearing a blue vest over a greenish sweater, it was hard to tell in the dim lighting of the hallway. The woman had bright red hair which reminded him of Donna Noble, one of his old friends. She had a round face and was wearing a _very_ short dark brown skirt, a dark brown shirt and a red scarf wrapped around her neck.

The third stranger made the Doctor do a double-take. He looked to be in his late twenties with dark brown hair brushed over one eye. But the part that surprised the Doctor was the way he was dressed. With dark brown pants, a collared shirt under a… a tweed jacket, and a bowtie?

The Doctor stared for a second longer and then just said one word. "What?"

The strangely dressed one stepped forward, smiling slightly, but the Doctor could tell he was hiding something. He held his hands together and paused.

"Well then," He said, "This is very not good."

_Okay, so that's the first chapter. Please review, I have the next chapter partially done, I just need to look over it. Please say what you think._

_Again, reviews are very appreciated_


	2. Mysteries

_So I have an overall plot, up to a point, after that I'll figure it out. :) Excitedness, this is my first fanfic. Yay._**  
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**Chapter 2**

**Mysteries**

The Doctor looked over the tall "stranger." He had immediately recognized him as his last regeneration, but this man looked older than the Doctor had ever seen him.

_Maybe it's just the fact that our TARDIS' came together._ He hadn't missed the slight differences in his TARDIS, the slightly greener tone to the walls, small additions to the console, some of the familiar gadgets missing to be replaced by equally familiar but different ones._ It's not like this hasn't happened before._ He thought, remembering the time his fifth self had appeared on his TARDIS, but that time he had remembered it. This time he had no previous knowledge. He should remember appearing on a future TARDIS, it wouldn't have been that far in the past. His memory wasn't that bad.

Of course there was another possibility, but the Doctor tried as hard as he could to pretend it wasn't an option. His thoughts were interrupted by Rory.

"Um Doctor?" Rory stepped forward, "Who is that, and how did they get on-"

"My space ship, yes I know," The Doctor cut him off. He couldn't let Amy and Rory know this was his past self. He didn't know why, he just felt that he shouldn't. Most of the times he had that feeling it ended up being right. "Hello, what's your name?" He walked forward, not extending his hand in case something bad happened. He didn't remember this so this was new, and it was fragile. If it turned out it was that not-to-be-mentioned possibility then it would possible be even more fragile and he didn't want to risk ripping a hole in the universe.

His tenth self responded quickly, "Hello, I'm the Doctor-" the eleventh Doctor shook his head the tiniest bit, hoping his tenth self would catch on, "I'm the Doctor for the Indigo Fleet of, well, have you been to the Andromeda galaxy? Because, if you haven't then you wouldn't know what I'm talking about. Well, you can just call me Doctor Smith, or John… because that's my name." He died off, scratching the back his neck awkwardly. The Doctor allowed himself a small, sad smile at the rambling. "So, what're your names?"

The Doctor frowned, he was going to use that name, now he couldn't. He should have expected the newcomer to use that name, after all they were the same. Now he would have to think of a new name.

"I'm Amy, this is Rory and that's the-"

"They're the Ponds," the Doctor cut in, "Amy, and Rory, and I'm… Craig." The name of the human he had shared a flat with a year before popped into his head. "Funnily enough, I'm a doctor too. Rory here is my patient." He started to whisper, "Not right in the head, poor chap."

"Hey!" Rory protested, "That's not-"

Just then a familiar voice came floating down the hallway behind them.

"Doctor?" Her sleepy voice made his hearts beat harder, he felt like they would burst out of his chest at any moment, "Who're you talking to?"

'John Smith' glanced at the Doctor and then proceeded to reply, "Rose, you'd better come here. We have some… visitors."

"Visitors?" She said. She walked past Amy and Rory, staring at them, until she reached 'John's' side. "Who're you?"

The Doctor forced a smile, "These are the Ponds, Amy and Rory, and I'm Doctor Craig." He glanced back at the Ponds, hoping they would get the message to use the fake name.

"And this is Rose," 'John Smith' said, "Rose Smith."

At that Rose glanced up and exchanged a glance with John.

"Well then," The Doctor clapped his hands together, trying to ignore the beauti- the newcomer. "Let's find out what the hell happened."

* * *

><p>The Doctor watched Doctor Craig lead the way into the console room. He was sure it was a fake name, he hadn't missed the tiny warning Craig had given him. The Doctor let the idea pop into his head for a second before he shoved in the back of his mind with other thoughts he wanted to ignore. He would love to have contact with the other universe, but then again, the last time the parallel worlds had had contact was when all the universes were being ripped apart.<p>

No, let's pretend that possibility didn't exist. He wanted it too much, and it was too dangerous. He let the Ponds walk ahead, pausing a moment so he could speak to Rose without being overheard.

"What's going on Doctor?" Rose whispered as the Doctor draped an arm around her shoulder.

"Well, as far as I know, we've sort of… collided… with another ship," The Doctor said, trying to find the right words.

"But I didn't feel anything." Rose said, confused.

"I know," the Doctor started walking again, leading Rose, "Which means they have some technology which allows them to do this. We haven't just hit another ship Rose. The ships have melded together. Which is why you need to call me John Smith."

"Because they might be an enemy?" Rose asked.

"Because they might not like finding out a Time Lord is on their with them," _Unless this was a trap._ He didn't mention the last bit, he knew Rose wouldn't like it but he still wanted to protect her from danger, even if it was imaginary. He hoped. He quickly went through all the enemies he had ever made in his long life, "Because I can only think of a few species that could ever have the technology to accomplish this."

"And you don't want them to know who you are because they might…" She let the words hang in the air, not daring say the word.

"Yes," They had arrived in the Console room.

Doctor Craig was moving quickly around the console, pressing buttons, pulling levers, and even typing on an old typewriter.

The Doctor went to join him, realizing he was scanning the TARDIS, or possibly even TARDIS', if that hopefully non-existent possibility was reality. Craig seemed to be having trouble finding one of the controls, the Doctor wasn't surprised, all the controls he was familiar with had either been replaced or moved slightly. He walked to the opposite side of the console and slid his hand underneath, searching for the button that he knew would solve Craig's problem.

Instead of a button he felt a very unfamiliar bump with what seemed to be small spikes dotted around it.

He ducked down and took a good look at it. It was round, about half the size of his hand, a mixture of a dark brown with streaks of red and some black with white spots. There seemed to be two types of spikes, shorter, fatter, black and white ones and longer, skinnier, brown and red ones. It didn't seem to fit with the rest of the instruments.

"Craig, is this yours?" The Doctor asked.

Craig crouched next to him, "No, is it yours?"

"No." The Doctor looked at it closely. "Rose, can you get my," he glanced at Craig and his friends, "a screwdriver from my room?" He had left it in his brown coat when they had gone to bed earlier.

"Be right back," Rose turned and walked into the depths of the TARDIS.

"Amy, Rory," Craig glanced at them, seeming to see an opportunity, "Can you go and get my other jacket from the kitchen? It has some tools I could use."

"You need the _both_ of us to get it?" Amy said suspicious. "Couldn't Rory go by himself."

"Well if two ships have melded together it might be better if you two went together, in case you get lost."

"That girl, Rose, she-"

"Amy," Craig looked up and gave her look that accompanied his next comment perfectly. "I have more better things to do than argue with you about who gets my tools from the kitchen."

"Fine," Amy rolled her eyes, "Come on then Rory. I'll make sure you don't get lost."

Craig returned his attention to the strange device, seeming not to notice the Doctor looking at him.

"Interesting friend you have there," the Doctor said.

"I'm the Doctor," Craig turned to look at him, surprising the Doctor. Then his heart seemed to fall all the way to his feet. The last possibility explaining .their circumstance was true

"And so am I," He said.

"The Doctor, or…" 'Craig' let his words die off.

"I'm the meta-crisis Doctor." He informed his original.

"Oh," It seemed as if the others worst fears had been realized. The same worst fears he, the meta-crisis Doctor, had he suspected, they were in fact the same person, even if he was more human than the one calling himself Craig,"And you were in the parallel universe?"

The Doctor nodded.

"But…" The other looked away and then pulled a long cylindrical object out of his pocket.

"Is that the sonic screwdriver?" The Doctor asked.

"Yes," He grinned, "New model."

"Any new features?" The Doctor was interested.

"Better scanning ability," The other Doctor held it up to the circular object and turned on the screwdriver. The tip lit up green and a comfortingly familiar noise accompanied it. "Like this. Hmm, again very not good."

The Doctor was about to ask what was when Rose walked in. "Here it is," she walked up and handed him _his _sonic screwdriver.

Instead of asking the question he leaned forward and scanned it with his screwdriver.

"Ah," As he looked at the readouts he suddenly understood why his original self was so worried.

_Cliffhanger :-), well as good as I could make it. Sorta just happened. Well anyways. I like this story so shouldn't take long to update._


	3. More Troubles

**Chapter 3**

**More Troubles**

After five minutes of rooting around the kitchen looking for what Amy now suspected to be made up tools, she convinced Rory that it would be best if they returned to the consol room and didn't waste any more time looking for some non-existent scanner. The Doctor could probably just scan the thing with his screwdriver, he actually probably had by now.

"Amy, he told us to get the tools," Rory protested as she grabbed his hand and led him out into the hall.

"Yes he did," Amy kept walking, "And he has also lied about this sort of thing before, or do you not remember on the asteroid House? 'My screwdriver's in my jacket pocket,' he locked the doors, Rory!"

"Yes, that I do remember," Rory was now walking willingly next to his wife, "But, still maybe the Doctor wasn't lying this time. Besides, I don't want to make this walk again if he insists we keep looking. It's gotten even longer."

Amy smiled as they entered the console room. The Doctor, or Craig as he wanted them to call him for some strange reason, was standing next to John and the woman Rose. Amy couldn't help but noticed the Doctor was eyeing the blonde when he thought John and Rose, her name was, weren't looking.

"Sorry Doctor… Craig, couldn't find the tools," Amy said as she and Rory joined the other three. She shot the Doctor a look when she noticed what he was holding."And you had your screwdriver with you." She glared at him.

"Oh, I must've forgotten," the Doctor said, "Getting…old." He looked at John, "You see?"

John nodded, "I think we'd better stay in groups."

"What do you mean, John?" Rose asked, walking closer to the man.

"I mean we should be very careful," John replied, staring at Amy and Rory. "You sure about them?"

"Yes, positive," the Doctor said immediately. "Amy, Rory… Rose, John and I have gotten some slightly disconcerting readings off this… device."

"What sort of readings?" Rose seemed to direct her question to John.

"Bad ones," John glanced towards the Doctor. At an almost unnoticeable nod from the Doctor, John continued, "This device is very advanced, and dangerous and-"

"Well," the Doctor cut him off, "It's basically a very small, very powerful, very scary… magnet."

"A magnet?" Amy said, "What's so super scary about a magnet?"

"Someone had to put it there," John said ominously. "Recently."

"So, one of us had to do it?" Rose asked, staring at John.

"Yes," He glanced at Amy and Rory, "But that's not all."

"Oh," Rory glanced at Amy.

"What?" She glared at her husband.

"There are two ships."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"The strongest magnetic pull is between two magnets," John said slowly, "A pull that would be just strong enough to pull, and meld two ships together."

"And…?" Amy waited for someone to finish her sentence.

"We haven't landed in the past nine hours," The Doctor said as an explanation.

"Neither have we," John added.

"You get it?" Rory looked at Amy. For once she seemed to be the only one to not understand, "There were two magnets."

"That needed to be placed recently, about..." The Doctor glanced at his watch, " Ooh, forty-seven minutes ago. At the same time, in two separate ships."

Amy still didn't understand.

"Amy-"

"So you're saying one of the five of us put the magnets on the ships?" She didn't really direct her question to anyone in particular.

"No," The Doctor said, fidgeting, "I'm saying… _two _of us did."

* * *

><p>Rose watched the Doctor, or John, glance at her. She knew what he was thinking, either one of them could have put the magnet…thing, whatever it was under the console in their ship. The problem was, she knew she hadn't done it. That meant it was the Doctor. The thing was, she couldn't imagine him doing that sort of thing. It was the sort of thing she would expect herself to do, but only years earlier. She was happy in the universe she was in, with her Doctor. Even if she did miss the other universe sometimes.<p>

She missed Mickey, she missed reality TV(for some reason there wasn't any), she even missed the Powell Estate (it didn't exist in the parallel world). But, still she was happy. She hoped to God that the Doctor hadn't done it, but who else was there?

"So…" The Doctor said, breaking the awkward silence, "We need to find out more about these magnets. Someone should go to the library and look for anything on them. Craig, you and I should stay here and try and work out how to safely fly this." He patted the TARDIS fondly, Rose noticed he only touched the parts from their ship.

"I agree," Craig said, he walked forward. He seemed to be the sort of man who couldn't stand still, "But I think we shouldn't wander by ourselves. Everyone should have a buddy." He smiled.

"Um…Craig?" The man, Rory, said tentatively.

"What is it Rory?" Craig seemed annoyed by Rory seemingly questioning his idea.

"Well, there are five of us, and a buddy system usually requires an even number," Rory pointed out, causing Craig to frown in frustration.

"Fine," He started thinking, "Groups then."

Rose noticed the girl Amy staring at the Doctor, mainly the hand holding his sonic screwdriver. She wanted to know why Amy had been staring at that for the past few minutes, "How about girls and boys," She smiled, "Me and Amy can go to the library and umm, Rory was it? He can stay with you and Craig."

John nodded, "Okay." He turned around, "Okay! Let's get started."

"Come on," Rose said to Amy, motioning to the hallway behind them, "Lead the way." She followed closely as Amy walked towards the library.

* * *

><p>"So, Rose," Amy tried to start a conversation as they walked through the halls to the library.<p>

"Yeah?"

"That… thing, um the silver thing with the blue at the end," Amy tried to make the question sound innocent, "What is it?"

"It's, well it's a sort of really high-tech…screwdriver," Rose tried to explain.

"A screwdriver," Amy laughed, "Well, Doctor Craig has a sonic one."

"Really?" Rose stopped walking, "Where'd he get it?"

"How should I know?" Amy gave Rose a look, "But anyways, where'd this Doctor Smith get _his_?"

"I don't know, same as you," Rose replied. Amy could tell she wasn't telling the full truth.

Amy decided to ask more about John Smith. She hadn't missed the details- the shoes, the pinstriped pants, the tie… the sonic screwdriver. The only thing missing was the Doctor. He had been wearing that exact outfit, without the jacket, when he had crashed into her shed when she was seven. Why would that strange man be wearing the Raggedy Doctor's clothes?

"So the Doctor, where's he from," She wouldn't put it past her alien friend to be able to change his appearance. She wanted to see Rose's reaction.

"The Doctor, well the Doctor's from… I mean John's from different places." Rose smiled, "He's a traveling doctor."

Amy didn't miss how Rose seemed to use the word doctor not as a title, but a name. Her suspicion seemed to be true. "He an alien?"

"Well, yeah he is," Rose smiled, "Nice alien though. You know what?"

"What?"

"Your friend, Craig, reminds me of John a bit," Rose said, walking again.

"Really, and how would that be?"

"He really seems to like this sort of thing," Rose looked over at Amy, "You know, this mystery, all of this. He seems excited to find out what really happened to the a more intense way than most people would."

"Yeah," Amy agreed, "Or maybe it's just because _someone_ cares more about the TARDIS than other living beings." She added under her breath, so Rose wouldn't hear.

"What was that?" Rose asked, curious.

"Nothing, sorry, just thinking," Amy tried to cover up."Ah, the library. Let's see what we find." She grinned and pushed open the doors.

_Alrighty! So I didn't really know what to do so much with this chapter, so I don't think it was that great._

_Well, reviews are always appreciated and I hope you like the story so far. Thanks for reading!_


	4. Suspicions

**Chapter 4**

**Suspicions**

They had been in the library for about fifteen minutes, searching for any information on the device when Rose turned to Amy. "I think I've found something, we'd better go show them."

Amy took a look at the book Rose held out to her. It was opened to a chapter on the history of some race called the Ga'eira. After she read the first sentence she agreed quickly.

They nearly ran back to the console room, Rose trailing slightly behind Amy, lost in thought.

Contrary to what Amy believed, she had heard what Amy had muttered, she hadn't missed that word. TARDIS. She ran it through her head. It all added up. The way the two ships seem to fit together so perfectly, the way 'Craig'(whose name, by now, was starting to seem suspiciously fake) seemed so excited about the mystery, just like her Doctor, the companions. Although she had thought he didn't like the TARDIS becoming domestic. She had noticed the wedding rings Rory and Amy wore.

But then again, he had regenerated, if 'Craig' was actually the Doctor. She ran through his image in her mind. The tweed jacket, the crazy hair, _the bowtie_.

She was smiling by the time she and Amy made it back to the console room.

"Ah, back already?" 'Craig' looked up through the glass floor. It seemed in his TARDIS it was easier to do maintenance.

"Yeah," Amy walked down to the level below via a new set of stairs, "And look at what we found." She handed 'Craig' the book Rose had found. He read the whole book in under two seconds.

Even in the danger they were possibly in Rose couldn't help but wish her Doctor could, or perhaps would, do that. He would spend hours reading a book, hours she wished he would spend with her. Even though they were married their life was much the same as before- saving the universe, one planet at a time.

"Hmm," 'Craig' stood from the seat he had been sitting in and quickly ran up to the main console, "Here, read chapter 13.4, that's the important bit." He tossed the book to the Doctor as he knelt down and once again investigated the device.

The Doctor read it quickly, so he could read that quickly, he just chose not to, Rose thought, annoyed. "This is interesting, very interesting. Rose! Have you read this?" The Doctor looked up at her.

"Yeah, I did in fact," Rose said raising an eyebrow, "That's why we decided to bring it to you two." She glanced at 'Craig.' He looked back. _He still has that look. He still looks so lonely._

"So, is anyone going to explain what's so interesting?" Rory said from the pilot's chair, where the Doctor and 'Craig' seemed to have forgotten him.

"Why don't you read it?" Amy said, taking the book from the Doctor's hand and handing it to Rory.

There was silence as Rory read it. "What's so interesting about this?" Rory looked up confused, "They're some old race. What's this got to do with our space-ships?"

"_My_ space ship." Craig interrupted. "Everything. The Ga'eira are an ancient race, one of the oldest in the universe it's said. Except, no one's ever seen one. Their technology just pops up in places. It's completely alien, but there are no existing species with that technology."

"So something weird pops out of nowhere, no one can explain, so they just blame some non-existent race?" Rory asked.

"Yes and no," 'Craig' replied, "Yes- people blame a lot of unexplainable things on the Ga'eira, but no- there is evidence that the Ga'eira once lived, and are still around today. Just no one can prove it."

"Or no one's had enough time to," The Doctor said ominously. Rose glanced at him.

"You mean they could be stopping anyone from finding out about them?" Rose asked. She was answered with a hesitant nod.

"Sounds like the Silence," Amy said.

"The what?" The Doctor said, immediately interested. It wasn't everyday he heard of a new species.

"The Silence," 'Craig' turned to him, "They're a creepy, evil race. They use other species to make technology. The important thing about them is you forget you ever saw them. When you look away you have absolutely no memory of ever seeing them."

"But they can influence what you do," Rory said, apparently eager to explain something he had at least a small understanding of, "See, when you're looking at them they can tell you to do something. And when you look away you forget they ever told you but you still do it."

"Post-hypnotic suggestion!" The Doctor said, excited, "But then that means it doesn't have to be just those, what did you call them? Silence, it doesn't have to be just them suggesting it. And you could copy that. Oh." He clutched his hair in his hands, "Oh!" He looked at 'Craig', "But that means…"

'Craig' paled, "But we can't prove it."

"No we can't, but our main suspect of who created that device is a seemingly extinct species," The Doctor retaliated.

"What is it?" Amy moved closer to 'Craig', Rose barely heard her whisper the words "Doctor, what… is… it?"

She couldn't help but smile a little, she knew it.

"It opens up the possibility that the two people who planted the device, were in fact not doing it of their own will," Rose's Doctor explained.

"That post-hypnotic suggestion thing," Rose added both as a statement and a question.

"Yes."

"Great," Rory cut in, "So if that is actually how that thing got put on the ships then the people who did it won't remember they did it."

"Which makes it even harder to find out who did," The Doctor grinned, "I love impossible mysteries."

* * *

><p>The Doctor glanced at his human copy grinning at Rose. He sighed, attempting to turn it into a thoughtful one when he noticed Amy standing near him.<p>

"Amy, Rory," He said to the couple, "I need you to go to the library again and find all you can on the Ga'eira."

"I'll go with you two," The human Doctor said. "Since our ships melded it might be best if I'm there too. Easier to work out where to look." He looked at the Doctor, and then Rose.

"So I'll just stay here," Rose said quickly, "Can't leave Mr. Craig here alone. Groups remember." She patted 'John' on the shoulder. "Don't take too long then."

He nodded, shot one more look at the Doctor and followed the Ponds down the hall.

The Doctor went to work on the console and the device. He was interested in how the device seemed to be like the current TARDIS, a mix of two magnets.

He was so intent on his work that he didn't notice Rose kneel down next to him.

"So, Doctor, watcha doin?" Rose asked.

"I'm just scanning to see if-" He stopped abruptly and stood. "You called me Doctor, but I'm… I'm Craig. Doctor Craig… and you were just-" He tried to let it slide.

"Just seeing if it was you," Rose smiled, "So you're the Doctor." She looked him over "Regenerated again, I see."

"Yes, I did," the Doctor didn't know what to say. He decided to return to scanning. He wasn't good with women on a good day, now Rose was standing two inches in front of him… And yes, he had in fact noticed the small, matching, golden rings both Rose and the Human Doctor were wearing. Yes back to scanning it is.

"Did you miss me?" Rose asked cutting through the silence.

The Doctor paused and looked at her, "Of course I did. But you have him now." He said motioning with the sonic screwdriver to the hall the Ponds and the Human Doctor had left through.

"Yeah, I know," Rose looked away, "I just wondered…" She seemed to not know what to say. Instead she looked at the screwdriver, "New sonic screwdriver then?"

"Yeah," He grinned. Now he was better at talking about this sort of thing.

"Looks different," She obviously had no idea what to say, "So, this your first regeneration after him?"

"Yes."

"Your TARDIS looks different," She looked around at the unfamiliar bits.

"Yeah, she changed," The Doctor lit up, "I got to talk to her!" He said excitedly, like a five-year-old boy who's come home from school to tell his mom about something exciting at school.

"Really?" She didn't really know how to reply to that, "Nice, is she?"

"Yeah," he was grinning even more now. Then the smile slipped, "Then she had to go back. To save us."

He looked away from Rose, even the memory nearly brought tears to his eyes.

"So what about Amy and Rory then?" It seemed Rose could tell that he was about to cry.

"Amelia Pond," he was smiling again, "Met her when she was seven, said I'd be back in five minutes, ended up being twelve years. Saved Earth with her and Rory Williams. Then went to the moon, found out I missed two years… again. Went to Star-Ship UK. Saved a Starwhale. Had adventures. Met vampires!" He said excitedly, completely forgetting about the device now, "Brought Rory along. Rory died. Then he became Roman and plastic! Then Amy died and I was in a box. Then we blew up the Universe twice and saved it. I never existed and then Amy and Rory got married. And I came back."

"You're so different, but you're still the same," Rose was laughing. "So maybe you should go back to that scanning."

The Doctor nodded and pointed the sonic screwdriver before spinning around, "Probably."

* * *

><p>"Amy?" Rory leaned towards her, holding her hand, "Is it just me or are John's clothes familiar."<p>

She looked over at him before glancing behind them, "No idea what you mean Rory." She motioned slightly with her head behind them. Rory looked back.

Amy followed his gaze. By now she was positive this man had a connection with the Doctor. When she and Rory had returned from the kitchen the Doctor and John seemed to be having a silent conversation by just exchange looks and glances while they were talking to the whole group. Amy wished she knew what those secretive looks meant.

She and Rory walked in silence until they reached the library, John moving in front to open the doors.

"Well that's interesting," He said, pulling out glasses and putting them on his nose. Amy couldn't help but notice they just added to his relatively good looks. She followed his gaze and noticed something she hadn't when she and Rose had been there a few minutes earlier. The room seemed to be split. There were two floors now, the bottom one had an unfamiliar greenish tone and the shelves seemed to be made of something mimicking coral. The second floor was more recognizable with its golden silver walls and more crystal like theme.

"Alright, Rory and I'll take the second floor," Amy glanced at John, "You can take this floor."

"Shouldn't we stick together?" Rory questioned, "I mean the Do- Craig said we need to keep an eye on one another." At a look from Amy he added, "Or more… implied."

"Yeah, well from the second floor we can keep an eye on Mr. Smith here and keep an eye on each other," She turned to John,"Agree?"

"Yes," He said with a nod, already pulling books off the shelves.

"Well then Rory," she took his hand in his, "Come on!"

They took the stairs to the second level and started searching.

When Rory was certain John was out of earshot he leaned closer to Amy and whispered, "So was it just me? Or were you making sure he didn't hear? Back in the hall that is."

Amy looked away from the book she was holding to glance over the railing at the tall stranger, "I've noticed. How do you think I wouldn't notice? He changed my life, everyone thought I was crazy, four psychiatrists… remember?" She shot him an icy glare.

"That I do remember," Rory knelt down next to her, pretending to be interested in a large book with a red cover, "And I was there when he used my phone to save the world. It's just, the clothes, they aren't torn up or anything."

"He's a time traveler," Amy said as an explanation. She had no clue, but she didn't want Rory to know it.

"A time traveler who happens to be able to change every single thing about him except for his clothing?"

"When I first met him," Amy thought back to that night when she was seven, praying for someone to help her, "He said something about early days, I don't know. He told me he didn't know what he liked to eat, 'New mouth, new rules' he said. He acted as though he didn't know who he was."

"When we were in the hospital, " Rory contributed, "Prisoner Zero made you faint, or sleep, but it pretended to be you and the Doctor," he pretended not to care and continued, "But at first he didn't know who the man was, standing next to you, even though it was him."

"You think he can change?" Amy leaned closer.

"Well he _is_ an alien," Rory shrugged, "I'm not exactly an alien expert remember? I'm a nurse. He even beat me in that respect, the _doctor_."

"Rooorrry?" Amy smiled, "Are you admitting jealousy?"

"Maybe," Rory glanced at her, "But if… John-"

"If that's his real name."

"If John whoever he is, is the Doctor or his past, or future," Rory glanced down to the floor below, "Then why didn't our Doctor tell us?"

"Maybe he didn't want them knowing," Amy thought about it.

Rory sat back, pulling a book out of a shelf nearby, "Well it's not as if it's the first time he's kept information from us. I mean he knew for _months_ that you weren't… you." Rory hesitantly mentioned Amy's long time as her Flesh avatar.

Amy just looked away.

"Aha!" Came the shout from below. Amy leaned over the railing to see John triumphantly holding up a huge book, "Found it! History of the Ga'eira, and all the compiled information."

"I've found something too," Rory said quietly, staring at the book in front of him. Amy leaned over his shoulder to see what he was looking at.

She gasped.

* * *

><p>The Doctor ran up the steps to see if the Ponds were alright, they hadn't responded to his announcement that they were done searching.<p>

He saw the couple looking at a small, leather book, both with worried looks on their faces, "What?" He looked at them, coming to kneel next to them, "What is it?"

"Look." Was all Rory said as he handed the Doctor the book.

He looked down at the drawing covering both pages. It was the interior of the TARDIS, but it wasn't just any interior, it was the current one. The one created by melding two versions of the TARDIS together.

He just let it sink in. This was very not good.

_Ok, so nearly 2 in the morning so I did my best to make it readable._

_So again, please review. Thanks. :D_


	5. Caught in the Act

**Chapter 5**

**Caught in the Act**

Rose stared at the Doctor as he worked. She wondered how it had happened, how the last body had… she didn't want to even think the word. At least she still had John. She sat on the pilot's chair just thinking. She wondered how long it had been since Bad Wolf Bay after saving the universe from Davros. She wondered if he still… had feelings for her.

Her thoughts were interrupted as John and the Ponds walked into the room. "Find anything?" She asked.

"Yep." John said."Found a book filled with all current knowledge of the Ga'eira, a banana, some car keys, a raffle ticket, some sweets, and something you two should see."

Rose ignored everything on the list other than the first and last items. "Great, so now we can find out what they might have to do with this, anything similar in the past. What's the thing we should see?"

"This," Rory handed her a small book, opened to a page in the middle.

She stared at the drawing before looking at John, "What does it mean?" She asked, "I mean, I get the book's old showing something that's happening currently but why is it in there in the first place."

"Take a look at a different page, any one, doesn't matter," John looked at her, worry showed in his eyes.

She flipped the pages until she came to a page with a drawing of… her? She read the caption.

_It is said that to protect the human race she finally revealed herself, the Bad Wolf._

She skimmed the paragraph below it. It was a short story, written like a fairy tale, telling how the Bad Wolf had saved the humans, how she had given her life for them.

She flipped through more pages. The whole book was filled with stories about Bad Wolf. She recognized names of planets she and the Doctor had visited, both before and after Satellite 5 and the Daleks.

She would have kept on reading if the Doctor hadn't walked up next to her. "What is it?"

She handed the book to him. He read it quickly and looked at her. "Bad Wolf?" She could see the understanding in his eyes. "Why would someone write a book about Bad Wolf… about you?"

"Wait," Rory walked forward, "Bad Wolf has something to do with Rose?"

The Doctor looked away from her for a moment, raising his arms he tried to explain, "It's… complicated. Bad Wolf was a message spread throughout time, popping up wherever we went. We thought it was a warning, but it wasn't, it was a message to Rose… from Rose."

"What?" Amy looked confused.

"Ehh, timey-wimey," John said as an explanation.

"Oh like that helps," Amy rolled her eyes, "So you're saying Rose died? I read that bit, how 'Bad Wolf gave her life to save the humans."

"Well, not really," The Doctor started pacing, "She would've, she had the Time Vortex running through her head-"  
>"I thought you weren't supposed to do that," Rory said.<p>

"Yes, for the reason that it will most likely kill you," the Doctor said, exasperated, "Which is why I took it out of her and died instead."

"Umm, you're looking pretty good for a dead guy," Rory put in.

"Uh, well, my species can do this thing where we change-" The Doctor stopped pacing, "You know, regeneration."

Amy and Rory both nodded.

"So why's this in a book about Rose?" Amy motioned around the room.

"I don't know," John said, "Which is why we'd better find out." He walked over to the Doctor, "We'd better look over these books and try and figure out what exactly is going on."

Rose saw an opportunity, "Okay, well since I woke up twenty minutes ago, I'm a bit hungry, I'm going to go and get something from the kitchen. That alright with you two?" She pointed at the two Doctors.

"Yeah, but take Amy," The Time Lord Doctor said, "Stick together remember, especially now Bad Wolf's part of it. Amy keep an eye on her."

"Yes sir," Amy walked down the hall with Rose. "So, how exactly did you save the human race?"

"Not exactly sure," Rose said, thinking, "I forget, I mean my memory's sort of wiped so I don't remember that much. I basically looked into the heart of the…"

"TARDIS, yeah," Amy smirked, "Look, stop pretending, that guys the Doctor, I've figured it out." (Actually she'd just thought of it and was just hoping for a reaction from Rose.)

"Wow, you're good," Rose smiled, then she paused, "Or did you already know him?"

"No," Amy said, "It's the clothes, they're what he was wearing when we met, and the sonic screwdriver."

"Oh," Rose started walking again, "So he looked like what he does now, you never saw him change?"

"He can change?" Amy thought it through, "Never mind, course he can, he's an alien. No, never saw him change." She paused but kept walking, "Well when we first met, he sort of glowed a tiny bit, and at one point he sort of had this, I don't know, gold mist come out of his mouth."

"That's the regeneration," Rose smiled knowingly, "Wait, was he okay? 'Cause the last time that happened something went wrong and that's where the mist came from, energy he said."

They had reached the kitchen.

"Yeah, he was alright," Amy laughed, "Although he did start rooting around the fridge. He ended up eating fish fingers and custard."

"Really?" Rose couldn't help but laugh, "Does he lick things randomly? To find out what they are?"

"No, well not often," Amy showed a look of disgust on her face, "He sometimes does. Don't see why."

"Well, it's him," Rose smiled, "Want some tea?" At Amy's nod, Rose turned and started the process of making two cups of tea. "So, been travelling with him a while?"

"Yeah, about two years," Amy responded. Rose paused for a fraction of a second. That's how long she had been with him when the Battle of Canary Warf had ripped them apart. "It was a couple weeks after I went with him that he brought Rory along."

"Really?" Rose laughed, "Were you two married then?"

"No, it was actually the night before our wedding, when we left," Amy clarified.

"Oh, you know it took two years for the Doctor to even think of letting my boyfriend, Mickey, come with us," Rose thought over that day, with the school and Sarah-Jane Smith. That made her think of something else, "Just out of curiosity, since I used to travel with your version of the Doctor… does he ever mention me?"

Amy sat down at the table in the middle of the kitchen, it was the table from her version of the TARDIS. "Not really," she saw Rose's face fall slightly, "Not like that, I mean, he doesn't but I don't think it's that reason. I found your room, and he saw me looking around it. I mean you don't really expect a 900 year old alien to have a pink duvet on his bed do you? I asked him whose it was, he just said 'Rose's' and refused to say anything more. I think it's more that he misses you. I asked River and she said the whole time she's known him he doesn't like going into detail about his time with you. She described it as it was like it hurt him too much."

Rose couldn't help but be flattered by that, then she immediately felt bad for even feeling that way. Still, he missed her. But there was one point she didn't understand, "Who's River?"

For a second Amy looked surprised, "Well, she's sort of, well I have no idea really. She's from the Doctor's future, but she's, well," she looked away and said the words as though she couldn't believe them herself, "Well she's Rory and my's daughter."

"So she's from the Doctor's future," Rose thought it through, "Must be interesting."

"Yeah, her favorite word's 'spoilers' though, drives the Doctor mad," Amy smiled at some memory, "She said her and the Doctor's timelines are like back to front or something."

Rose nodded, showing she had heard. She had turned back around to pour the water into the mugs from the kettle.

"Rose, I have a question," Amy broke the silence, "I thought something bad would happen if someone, or thing, came into contact with itself in time travel."

"Not always, it's a paradox," Rose frowned, "Just don't interact with yourself from your past when the Reapers are out."

"The what?" But Amy decided to not wait for an answer, "Yeah, so... my Doctor, and yours they can interact without causing harm, is that a Time Lord thing or something?"

"No," Rose sighed, "They aren't exactly the same man. John has all the memories of the Doctor up to a point. Then he and I left the Doctor," she didn't mention they were practically forced to, "And we lived together on a parallel world. He had part of the TARDIS and it grew fully so now we can still travel in time. but the thing is, the Doctor, when he regenerated into what John looks like, he got into a sword fight and lost his hand."

"Looked like he had both to me."

"Yeah, well he grew a new one," Rose grinned, "Time Lord biology and all that. So he had this hand fall to Earth and an old friend, Jack, picked it up. Then the Doctor ended getting the hand and he used it to stay himself when he was shot by a Dalek. He had had to regenerated but he used the hand to put the extra energy in so he wouldn't have to change his face. Then this woman Donna was trapped in the TARDIS as it was burning and touched the hand. And well," she smiled at the memory of seeing the TARDIS appear in the vault and a second Doctor sprint out, "John grew out of the hand."

"So your husband's a hand?" Amy smiled, "Well, my husband was a two thousand year old plastic Roman Centurion."

At that point they started swapping stories, laughing at all the adventures the other had been in.

After about fifteen minutes, Rose remembered about the tea and went back to work. She put the tea in and was about to add the milk when she heard loud tapping behind her. She looked behind her.

"What're you doing?" Rose glanced at Amy. She had pulled out her phone and was now typing furiously on it.

She stopped at Rose's voice, "Sorry, what?"

"Texting someone?"

"What?" Amy looked down, "Why's my phone out?" She sighed."Tired I guess." She said answering her own question.

Rose turned around to finish making the two teas. When she finished, and was in the process of moving the two mugs to the table, she found that Amy was back to typing furiously on the keypad of her phone.

This time, she didn't mention it and instead slowly, so as not to alert Amy as to what she was doing, she walked around Amy to see what she was doing.

The screen was filled with random numbers. Every few seconds a message would pop up, too quickly for Rose to read it, but she caught a number at the end of each message. The numbers were counting down.

The pattern of numbers seemed annoyingly familiar to Rose, but she couldn't put her finger on where she knew them from.

The numbers in the messages had now gotten down to double digits and Rose decided to alert Amy.

"You're doing it again," she said quietly. Amy jumped and looked around.

"When'd you get there?" She stared at Rose, "You were by the sink a second ago."

"That was five minutes ago," Rose said, now she was worried, "You okay? You were doing something on your phone."

"No. I wasn't," Amy said, confident. She looked at the phone in her hands and stopped, "What? I don't remember…"

Rose was now getting worried, "Alright, we should get back to the Doctors, they'll know what to do. You're probably just tired."

Both the women knew she was lying. She was taking Amy back to the Doctors because she was acting like Amy's Doctor had described the Silence's affect worked.

As Rose walked back to the console room, just behind Amy, she couldn't help thinking to herself- _One down, one more to go._

_Okay, so I'm not sure that chapter was the best ever, but I had a beginning and end, just needed the middle._

_Please, please review. I appreciate all comments.  
><em>


	6. Complications

**Chapter 6**

**Complications**

The Doctor and John were going over the two books, every now and then moving from the captain's chair's vicinity to check on the device attached underneath the console. The Doctor was in the process of moving towards the console when Rose and Amy walked in.

"Doctor," Rose looked worried. When John and the Doctor exchanged quick, confused glances she added, "Oh I don't care which one, right now Rory's the only one who I'm not positive knows about you two. Besides this is important."

"Wait, what don't I know?" Rory stood, then after a second he seemed to piece it together, "Wait you two. So Amy was right, we were right. You're both the Doctor?"

"Ehh, yes, but in a complicated sort of way," the Doctor answered before turning to Rose, seemingly oblivious to having told his friend that there were currently two versions of the same nine hundred year old alien standing shoulder to shoulder, "What's important Rose? Amelia? Are you alright?"

Amy had closed her eyes tightly, "Yeah, sort of, not really." She sat down on the steps, "My head is killing me."

Rose knelt down to help her, "We were in the kitchen and Amy, she started typing on her phone," Rose started explaining, "'Cept it was like she didn't know she was doing it. There were a ton of numbers. Here." She handed John Amy's phone. The Doctor ran up next to Rose and started checking that Amy was alright.

"Well we've found one of the culprits," John said, when Rory glared at him he added, "Look at her, it's not like she was doing it of her own will. I think we've got a good amount of evidence to support your Silence theory Doctor."

"Yeah well if it is that, then it might not have been Amy who actually put the device there," The Doctor replied, "But we need to find out what she was doing. Got anything?"

John shook his head. "I've no idea. It's not familiar. You?"

The Doctor took the phone and had as much luck identifying the pattern as John had. "Maybe the TARDIS can figure it out. Even though we can't land-"

"We can't?" Rose looked up from Amy's side.

"Too dangerous," The Doctor replied, "Wouldn't want to risk it, from what we can tell the Time Vortex is keeping it stable. Which is odd since normally it would be doing the opposite. Yes well back to these numbers. I believe we can still use the TARDIS to scan or search, but just not as transport."

"So we're stuck in here?" Amy asked.  
>"Feeling better?" The Doctor asked her.<p>

"Yeah, a lot," Amy stood shakily, "So what now, Doctors?"

"We can't do the scanning or searching here, it's much too close to the device," John told her, "We," He motioned to the Doctor to include him, "Need to stay here to keep an eye on the TARDIS. So that means you and Rose should go to the computer room and see what you can find on this." He handed the phone to Rose.

"Alright," Amy nodded, "We'll tell you if we find out anything."

"Hold on just a second," The Doctor said before the two could head off, "Let Rory go with you two, just to be safe."

"What?" Rory said, "Why? I'd be more help here."  
>"No you wouldn't, don't lie to yourself," The Doctor said, "Makes to be a bad habit, trust my personal experience. Besides you'd have no idea what we were doing, you'd just get in the way. So no, you aren't staying with us, and more importantly Amy was just recently acting very suspiciously," At her glare he said, "I mean with the phone, Rose described it as you didn't really know what you were doing."<br>"I don't really remember doing it, it's sort of a fuzzy spot," Amy said, squinting, trying to remember.

"Don't push yourself. So if she were to… emm, not have control over what she was doing again and were to do something worse, it might be better if…" He didn't really know how to say 'I need you to guard Amy to make sure she doesn't spontaneously try to kill them all'.

"You need him to keep an eye on me, in case I start doing things," Amy shot the Doctor a glare, "In case I start doing something worse this time and Rose needs to stop me. Yeah, I get it."

"Sorry."

She rolled her eyes.

"I'm not going just to babysit my wife," Rory argued.

"What, you want to stay here and just sit there pretending you know what we're doing?" The Doctor shot back.

"Well apparently no one bothers to tell me anything anymore," Rory was frowning, "None of you has paid any attention to me right now."  
>"Oh, so now you're just jealous of everybody else, 'cause you aren't getting the attention you want?"<p>

"Yes- no!" Rory frowned again, "Look, I've been sitting on that chair for the past twenty minutes because I can't bloody see straight! My head is killing me, I feel like I'm going to be sick, I could go on forever!"

"You could have told us this," The Doctor said, now worried.

"I _did._" Rory glared, "But no, it's been all 'I'm going to save the day all by myself and pretend no one's noticed how I haven't been attention to anyone but Rose.' Listen I'm glad you two had that hearts to heart talk about your past," He pointed at John and the Doctor. "Oh, yeah, forgot I was there did you?" he nearly shouted at their surprised looks.

"Rory, stop," Amy took a hold of his hand, "Rory, please, we should take you to the infirmary if you're feeling so bad."

"No! I mean… no." Rory quieted, "I don't know, I don't feel so bad now but I need to stay here."

"And why would that be?" John asked, hopefully doing a good job hiding his concern.

"I just need to, one of you can go anyways," Rory pointed between the Doctors.

"Uh, no, probably not," John said, shaking his head slightly.

"So then just let them go on their own!" Rory said loudly. The Doctor was now even more worried. Rory usually never acted like this.

"Well can we not stand around arguing about who's going with who," The Doctor shot back, "I mean this place could explode at any moment, you'd better hurry up."

"It's going to explode!" Rory shouted, starting to get very annoyed at how everyone seemed to know what was going on on this ship except for him, "You could've told us this!"

"And have you freaking out. And well, no it's just a hunch," the Doctor looked away awkwardly.

"Oh so now it's less likely for us to be freaking out about this tiny little fact," At the Doctor's look Rory added, "So why'd you just tell us this brilliant hunch of yours then?" Rory said sarcastically.

"To get you to go with the women," The Doctor replied.

"And how was that supposed to accomplish anything along those lines?" Rory asked, starting, not for the first time, to question the nine hundred year old aliens sanity.

"I'm not sure," The Doctor looked down at his sonic screwdriver, thinking it through, "Well, never mind that, just go off with your wife and his…" he looked at John."Wife." He had actually had a purpose to telling Rory about the possibility of an imminent explosion. The Doctor was positive there was no chance of an explosion. Well just as much probability as normal, which was higher than most other ships. Although that certain fact, he had decided long ago, he would keep away from his companions. But his current quickly put together plan was working fantastically.

Rory gave up, "Fine." He turned to lead the two women back to the computer room. The Doctor returned to scanning.

Just as Rory and the women were almost out of earshot the Doctor shot up from his position on the floor having just gotten some interesting readings off the device.

"Wait! No! Don't go anywhere you three! Come back! I've figured out what the magnet…device…thing does!" The Doctor grinned as the three returned waiting for him to continue, " As it says on page 1837, the two magnets are attracted to each other. We have that sort of magnet on our ships. They will only ever be attracted to the other one in the pair, but the field is so strong that it can only be activated for less than four seconds. If not then KABOOM!" He laughed happily.

"Doctor, you're getting a bit too happy with the whole 'we could die at any moment' thing," Amy cut in.

The Doctor calmed down and returned to pacing, "So, the magnets pull together so hard that they can't just rest next to each other like normal magnets. They _meld_ together. But the interesting bit now, the really interesting bit is that anything the magnet touches produces the same charge, until the magnet loses contact with the object. So my TARDIS had the opposite charge that Rose's and… er John's, how about we just call you John," He grinned and returned to his explanation, "So the TARDIS' came together, but now they had the properties of the magnets and-"

"They melded together," Rory finished. "So that explains the whole two TARDIS' mashed together," He paused, " thing, but it doesn't exactly explain why."

"Well, look on the bright side Rory," The Doctor turned to look at him, " We've sort of got one and a half out of three things accomplished. We needed to find out the basics- who, how, and why. We've gotten how, we suspect who, and I still have absolutely no idea why," he answered Rory before he could answer the question of why.

"So just going over quickly," John stepped forward now, "We have the how as the Doctor just explained, we suspect the Silence and possibly the Ga'eira, or someone who has contact with those two, now the why," The three full humans looked at him expectantly. When the Doctor added his gaze to it as well John continued, "Well, same as the Doctor- no clue."

"Why would anyone want to meld two TARDIS' together?" Amy asked, "It's not really doing anything is it?"

"People are always trying to steal the TARDIS," Rose tried a guess, "Maybe it's like that."

"Maybe," John said, walking over to the screen on the console, "Doctor, did you finish the scan?"

"Yeah, maybe, I think so," The Doctor looked around distractedly, "I'm not sure."

"Well, you might want to come take a look," John said, still looking at the screen.

The Doctor moved next to him, taking in the readings. "Ohh."

"What? Doctor, what is it?" Amy said, now sitting in the captain's chair with Rory.

"We're in a bubble," the Doctor laughed, then immediately became serious once more, "But that's impossible. We should be dead."

"Doctor." Amy said once again.

"These energy readings, they're off the scale," The Doctor said, both to himself as well as to Amy, "And it's like it's tied to something, but we can't trace it. The energy's messing up the scanner outside the TARDIS. This bubble it's keeping us steady."

John ducked down once more to take another scan of the magnet.

"There's a point where the energy is strongest, then it bubbles out to cover the whole TARDIS. Then it extends somewhere out there." He motioned as if it say The Whole Universe.

His not so silent thoughts were interrupted by John.

"Well now," John said, looking closer at the device, readjusting his glasses on his nose, "That's very interesting."

"Mind sharing?" The Doctor crouched down next to him.

"Well, this device it sends a magnetic field all around the ship, and this field is attracted only to its opposite, which we have discovered was planted on the other ship," He paused, letting Rory and the Doctor catch up, "But the very interesting part is that, this magnet is in fact," he stood, motioning with his arm, "Not transmitting. Neither of them are."

The Doctor ran back to the screen and look at the readings again. He backed away from it, as if scared it was going to explode.

"I was wrong," The Doctor looked up. Amy felt her heart go cold. The Doctor looked terrified, "I was very wrong. It wasn't the Ga'eira, or the Silence, or anyone with them. I don't know why you're doing this. I have absolutely no idea, but I do know one thing- you need to stop. Please." He lowered his voice to a whisper, "Rose… please."

_So... surprise! Bet you didn't see that coming... well neither did I... until I thought of it._

_Well anyways, had a bit too much sugar. So Please review, as always, I'd appreciate it. So I have the next chapter done, just thought this was a good ending. So ;-) hope you're liking it._


	7. Rose

**Chapter 7**

**Rose**

Amy watched as Rose backed away from her.

"It had to be done," She was crying, "I had to bring you two together, or you never would've known."

"Known what?" John said, shaking his head, turned his head to the Doctor, "Rose wouldn't, she couldn't."

"I'm-" She grasped her head, "It hurts too much. You'll find out soon enough. I needed the two of you here, I needed you to know. Rory- I'm sorry, you were the brightest, I had to use you, the pain should go away soon." She was now looking at John and the Doctor. They were shocked to see her eyes now glowed.

_What've you done?_ The voice nearly screamed in both the Doctors' head.

_He was kneeling in a cold, dark room, wiring thrown all about him, Daleks circled around him, not killing only because of the reason he was so shocked._

_I looked into the TARDIS._ He remembered how she looked into his eyes. _And the TARDIS looked into me._

_You looked into the time vortex! Rose no one's meant to see that. _He remembered the panic as he suddenly understood what was going on.

_This is the Abomination!_ The Emperor of the Dalek had screamed. Followed by screaming cries of _Exterminate!_

He remembered the beam of deadly light shoot towards Rose. She just raised her hand and calmly blocked the beam.

_I am the Bad Wolf. _Even in the memory, her words felt powerful.

_He stared into her glowing eyes._

_I create myself._

_I take the words._

_I scatter them._

_In Time and Space._

_A message, to lead myself here._

He remembered how he had been terrified as she wiped the Dalek Empire with the sweep of an arm. He had tried to warn her, but she had kept going.

_Rose you've done it, now stop. Let go._

_How can I let go of this? I bring life._ He had taken the energy out of her mind, he had sacrificed his life for hers. But apparently it hadn't been enough. It was still there. He had thought she was better, it had only affected her while it was in her mind. Apparently not.

* * *

><p>The Doctor stood, frozen with shock. John shook his head, barely believing this was happening.<p>

"Rose!" John moved towards her, "You need to stop! This is way too much for you, not to mention this was a terrible idea. We aren't supposed to be in the universe anymore. We don't belong here! Bad Wolf should be gone!"

Rose was now crying fully, "You don't understand. You can't. You never will if you don't let me explain," Her eyes were glowing a deep gold now, so bright that the body around them seemed to fade a little.

"Rose, you're going to kill yourself," John was now crying, pleading for her to stop.

"No," she whispered, "Amy," she looked at the red head, "Your-" she doubled over in pain, "The kitchen!" She yelled.

Amy stood in shock, she had no idea what Rose meant. But that didn't matter.

Rory looked just as scared and shocked as she did. "Amy?" He grabbed her hand, still staring at Rose.

"What Rory?"

"She looks like she's fading," he said, his voice shaking. The Doctor spared a millisecond to glance at his friends, then he looked back at his old companion and noticed it too.

While her eyes stayed the bright gold of the Time Vortex in her mind, her body was fading. Too late the Doctor realized what was happening, "No!"

Then she disappeared all together.

* * *

><p>Rose sat up straight on the hard metal cot. She was in a tiny, dark room. She let herself become accustomed to the surroundings, let her eyes get used to the dim light, her skin recognize the change in temperature(much colder), and no sounds other than her breathing.<p>

She had been on the TARDIS-

No she hadn't, she had been here the whole time. She took a deep breath, she still wasn't too used to her… gifts.

As soon as her head cleared, she stood. Now it was time to start the second part of her plan.

She lifted her hand, giving herself time to get used to the bright glow. Reaching out with her mind she grabbed the door and ripped it off its hinges.

_Bet they weren't expecting that._ She thought, smiling to herself.

She walked out of the tiny room, down the corridor, up two flights of stairs, through the main entrance to the abandoned apartment building, out into the streets, and looking up, with golden light spilling from her eyes, she once again, disappeared.

_Okay, that one was a bit short, but I thought it was good ending to a chapter. And also, pleeeeaaaaassseeeee review, I'm the type to get excited over 1 review, and above two make my day. :) i'm excited easily._

_Thanks for reading.  
><em>


	8. Problem Solving

**Chapter 8**

**Problem Solving**

Rose walked along the deserted street, kicking an empty can around as she looked around, searching for the house.

It was a small white brick building with a dark red front door and a small lamp stretching out over it, flickering.

This was it.

She took a deep breath. Even though she knew she couldn't possibly mess this up, she was nervous. Even though she could see every variable and every possible outcome and how to get to each one, she was nervous. She needed them to find her, and what better place to be than the same building as the person they would first go to for help? She needed to do this. It wasn't like she was causing it, it would always happen. There was no way Mr. Alexander Dreston would continue living after three hours from now. She knew that. It still didn't make her feel any better about what she was doing.

He just couldn't live. He was going to have a heart attack, plain and simple, she was just using this to her advantage. She wouldn't be causing it. She would just be there.

Even though she didn't like what she was about to do she smiled at her plan.

She was going to frame herself. She was going to turn a natural death into a crime. She nearly laughed out loud, it was just as crazy as anything the Doctor might do.

As she went up to the door she reached up and tightened the bulb of the light. The light steadied and she knocked on the door, three quick knocks. Waited ten seconds and then added two slow knocks.

Mr. Dreston was a very suspicious man. He would never let anyone in his house if he didn't know them. But then they could be a stranger in disguise, so he had a system.

The visitor walks up to the house, they fix the flickering light, they knock three quick knocks, count to ten and then two slow knocks. When he answers the door, using the com system he had installed, he asks who they want and they answer, I'm looking for Martin Macabi at 1256 Westerly Lane. All of it was fictional, but then he would know it was someone he could trust.

"Hello? Who is this? What do you want?" Came the harsh voice of the elderly man.

"Um yes, hello," Rose answered, "I'm looking for a Martin Macabi at, uh, 1256 Westerly Lane. Do you know where I could find him?"

"Oh yes, here, come in," There was the sound of rushed footsteps down the stairs from indoors, the door swung open, "In, in!"

She quickly followed him inside. He was nearly as short as her, balding, with dark blue eyes. He looked around eighty, but Rose knew him to be almost ninety-five. He was doing pretty well for a man nearing the age that most people 'passed away'.

"So, I don't know ya,' He promptly said, with a loud cough, "Who are ya?"

"Hello, I'm Rose," Rose said politely as he continued coughing, "Are you alright? Can I get you something?"

"No!" He said abruptly, "I'm perfectly fine. Just out of breath, that's all."

"Okay," Rose walked behind him into the living room. All the shades had been pulled down, blocking out all sights of the street outside, "I'm guessing you don't get many visitors." She said, looking around the cluttered room. Old magazines and newspapers were strewn all over the chairs and floor.

"Why would I want 'em?" he said, sitting down on one of the less dirty chairs. "Come on then, sit! Don't got all day."

"Yes, I know," She sat across from him. She had four minutes. Being Rose, she decided she would make him as happy as possible. "So sir, I'm from the-"

"You're an agent aren't ya!" He stood abruptly, "You's gonna take all my things! My daughter sent her di'n she? I knew it."

"No, no she didn't," Rose stood. This was going to be a bit harder then she thought. Then she saw what she needed. "I'm a friend of hers yes, but I'm not an agent. She's moved to the Cleistern Ring. Know where that is? The third moon. She's helping out. She's a doctor now, a proper doctor. She's helping out with all the bombings. She's saving peoples lives."

"No," He frowned, "No, she isn't, she's off with that man of hers. She just wants my money."

"No," Rose sighed, "Look, she misses you. She's been trying to send you letters, notes, she's been trying to contact you since the day she left. But you've locked her out, you've locked everyone out. Here." She reached into her jacket, pulling an envelope out. She had taken it from the pile in the city's equivalent of a post office that was addressed to Mr. Dreston. "Read it."

It was a letter from his daughter. It took him two minutes to read it. _One minute to go._ She thought sadly.

When he finished he looked up. "It's from her." He said quietly, crying slightly, "It's not a fake. I didn't know. I really didn't."

Rose hadn't read the letter, but she knew what it was about. It was his daughter talking about her new life, wishing her father was still there. Wishing that he would forgive her.

Mr. Dreston spent the last minute of his life writing a letter to his daughter. As he folded it and slipped it inside the envelope he looked up at Rose, "Thanks you miss. I'll send this in the morning." As he stood, Rose looked away.

She made him as comfortable as possible as he died.

After he had faded away, she gently closed his eyes, picked up the letter and proceeded to put the little bits of information that were key to this step in her plan.

She laid out two cups of tea, drinking a little from one and pouring a larger amount from the second before pouring some liquid into the second cup. It would be found to be a poison that worked to act like a heart attack. She gently added finger prints around the house before leaving to post the letter.

She hated to do this, but she knew she must. It was the most important thing.

* * *

><p>She was sitting calmly in a small café when they came to arrest her. She had just posted the letter, it would arrive in two days. At least she had done that for Mr. Dreston.<p>

It took less than two days to find her guilty and sentenced to a life in prison.

As she was escorted through the prison doors and scanned the guard asked to scan her again. He gave a confused look at the guard escorting her. He tried again.

She tried as hard as she could to hold back a smile. Even though she had already seen this happening, she could see everything, it still gave her a jolt of pleasure to know her plan was working.

In less than two weeks she would see him again.

Twenty minutes later, the elite squad came. They switched her handcuffs for extremely durable, extremely uncomfortable handcuffs and marched her off to a ship that would soon take her to her new home.

Stormcage.

* * *

><p>"What just happened?" Rory gasped, "Where'd she go?"<p>

"I've no idea!" The Doctor raced over to the spot his former companion had just recently stood, "If I did we would have been there five minutes ago!"

John had sunk to his knees now, "But, I don't understand. What happened?"

Amy went over to the Doctor, "It looked like she faded, not like she was transported."

The Doctor looked up, "Amy that doesn't mean anything. There are thousands of different types of transports."

Rory grabbed his head, groaning. "Agh. My. Head." He curled into a ball.

Amy immediately raced to her husband, "Rory, hey. Doctor, what do we do?"

"I don't know," The Doctor was pacing again, walking around John, "I don't know. We're stuck in the Time Vortex. We can't leave. Rory's curled up in a ball. John's now eating a banana-"

"No he isn't." Amy glanced at the crying Human/Time Lord.

"He was!" The Doctor nearly screamed at her, "Stop saying I'm wrong!"

"What's going on?" Amy felt her head throb. Then it cleared. She went through what had happened in the past hour, "Wait. Doctor, calm down. We haven't been acting like ourselves, I don't know why, but we need all need to calm down."

Rory had straightened up at this point and stood, "The monitor."

"What about it Rory?" The Doctor was still shouting, "Yes it's a monitor, very observant. We can take nice pictures of the Time Vortex now!"

"No," Rory shook his head. Amy was now worried out of her mind, he looked like he was barely aware of anything he was doing, "You saw the shield around the TARDIS. It was going from me to the shield then to her, outside."

"Well that's helpful, now we can find out where she is and just sit here happy to know where she is!" The Doctor was still shouting. "Now Rory can you shut up! I'm thinking!"

"No," Rory's eyes were now glazed over with pain, "You can trace it, we're still holding the shield intact. We've moved fully to your universe. We're on the same side of the wall now, the shield will stay intact and the TARDIS can land."

"Fine, let's get ourselves killed," the Doctor growled, but still he went about sending the ship after the trail left by Rose.

The landing was much rougher than usual and Amy led them out.

They were in a small town. The street was deserted except for a large van parked in front of a small white brick building with a dark red front door.

Amy walked up to the man who seemed to be in charge, "Excuse me, what's going on?" It might have something to do with Rose.

"Man just had a heart attack, that's all," The man said.

"Yes, but then why do you have a whole squadron out to just pick up the body of some poor man?" The Doctor had walked up next to Amy. He seemed to have calmed down.

"Um sir we can't tell you-"

"Sir John Smith, head of inter-departmental relations. Police Division," he held up the psychic paper. "Now tell me and my assistant here, Miss Pond, what happened."

"Oh, Sir, I'm very sorry," The man said with a salute "Orangey at your service. The man had what seemed to be a heart attack, but then we found this in his tea." Orangey handed the Doctor a slip of paper with readings of the tea.

"Oh, that's not good," The Doctor reread the report, "So he was poisoned?"

"Yes, it's completely untraceable in the body, but we found it in his cup," The inspector said, "There was another cup and we found fingerprints. We've arrested the young lady responsible. Seems she was visiting this Mr. Dreston and slipped that in his tea. She ran when one of the neighbors knocked on the door. Hence the fingerprints and all the evidence."

"Ah, and does this young lady have a name?"

"Don't know sir, we just found her sitting in a café, she calmly came with us," Orangey frowned, "Quite strange really. She was sent to prison and as soon as she walked through the doors the Stormcage boys came and whisked her away. Head of the department wanted us to look into this further. Suspicious it is and all."

"Hmm, well thank you officer," The Doctor spun around, "Come along, Pond. We know where Rose has got to now."

"What?" Amy followed the Doctor back to the TARDIS, "So, you're better now. No more shouting?"

"Yes, I'm better," The Doctor replied, "We think we've figured out why everyone's been acting so…different."

"Alright, explain," Amy walked in front of him, crossing her arms.

"The TARDIS' being pulled together caused this affect. You know how raising the temperature in a room can affect how people act, just in a small way?" At her nod he continued, "It's similar to that, in a very broad sense. It was enhancing any sort of emotion we were having at that moment. It also twisted our view of time, slightly. That's why I saw John… eating a banana, not sure why, he was also playing with the car keys he found, well back to the point- right now in the TARDIS it's slightly unstable, buuuut we've found a way to fix it. Well I just thought of something that might work. Might not, but you never know till you try," at her glare he got back to the point, "We can use the magnets."

"I thought they weren't doing anything?" Amy asked, confused.

"Well, they weren't. They couldn't. If they had actually been turned on then things would have gone a lot differently. A lot worse," He took a deep breath, "It was Rose and Rory bringing the two TARDIS' together. Though why him, I have absolutely no idea. It's sort of like he's the anchor and she's pulling the other TARDIS to ours. But now they are melded and the shield is up and strong, John and I can probably get the magnets working and use them to keep it stable and not put all the pressure on Rory at the moment."

"So that's why Rory's been acting so sick?"

"Exactly! Er, probably," He winced at her glare, "Educated guess? Look it's not like I've ever seen this happen before. At this point most everything we're doing is based on educated guesses."

"Well how about you and your friend work on the magnets then?" Amy said. "One of your educated guesses."

"Yes, he's working on it at the moment," The Doctor sat on a bench, "We thought it'd be best if we took shifts. Since being in the TARDIS makes us… not ourselves, we decided we'd take five minute shifts."

"Right, so any idea why the TARDIS brought us here? While we wait." Amy sat down next to him.

"Exactly what I was wondering," The Doctor turned to look at her, crossing his legs, "I think it might be because she was here for longer than a few hours. Not this exact spot. More this general… solar system."

"Great, so we have a general idea where she is, but it'll take us years to find her," Amy frowned, "Why are we even looking for her? Couldn't we just drop John off here, or Stormcage if Rose is even there?"

"No!" The Doctor said, slightly more harshly than he had meant, "Sorry, I mean no. Rose is showing an ability to do something she shouldn't. And I think, even if Rose isn't there, even if it was just some random woman, we could use some help. River could help us out. She does owe me some favors, saving her life and all that. So we're going to Stormcage and we aren't just dropping John off. It would be best if both of us are there if-when we find Rose. As I said she's showing an ability to do things she shouldn't be able to. Things no humans ever have, or ever will be able to do. Weird things."

"Wow, and I hadn't noticed," Amy rolled her eyes.

"No, she did this sort of thing once before," The Doctor frowned at the memory, "Saved my life. Like we said, Bad Wolf. Except that was wiped from her memory, she could barely remember anything. But it seems as though she kept it, but it was dormant in her mind. But she should have burned by now, not that it's not a good thing, but something's going on."

"Again Doctor, I think we all figured that bit out," Amy said, wanting to get more information than she was.

"She might've been taken to Stormcage," The Doctor said, thoughtful. "Let's visit our friend, River Song!"

He jumped up and ran to the TARDIS, just as John burst through the doors. He was still crying, but he was now grinning also. "They're on! Rory's feeling loads better, I'm feeling not so depressed and hopefully you won't be screaming." He grinned.

"That was quick," Amy said.

"Yeah, well, it was like they were prepared," John frowned, "Actually, all I had to do was press the button on the side. Took me so long because I was trying to figure out whether or not I should press said button."

"So now we can go to Stormcage," Amy smiled, "Right, off we go then."

"We're going to Stormcage?" John said, sending a questioning look towards the Doctor. "Is Rose there?"

"Maybe," The Doctor clasped his hands together, "Good chance she is. But we also want to visit a friend. She could be very helpful in finding Rose."

"And who is this friend?" John asked, raising one eyebrow.

"River Song."

_Okay, so that chapter wasn't the best in my opinion, but it's getting them where they need to be..._

_So, thanks to all the reviews (all 11! I'm a happy person now! :) I get so excited). So please review!_

_Thanks again to all the favorites and reviews!_


	9. Stormcage

**Chapter 9**

**Stormcage**

"River Song," John said, backing up to let Amy and the Doctor walk up the ramp, "Why does that name sound familiar." He closed his eyes, "I'm getting…books?"

"Yeah, library planet, CAL, River," The Doctor looked away, trying to hide the sadness in his eyes, "Oh, River."

"What about River?" Amy said, "You normally don't get this way about her."

"No it's, nothing," The Doctor looked away once again.

"Doctor, I want to know, what about that library planet and River make you so sad?" Amy leaned closer, "She's my daughter, I need to know." Trying to pretend it didn't feel strange for her to say it aloud.

"Oh! The Vashta Nerada! And the computer, '4022 people saved, no survivors'," John cut in, "So you meet River again?"

"Yeah, loads of times," The Doctor turned to face John. "So let's find out if Rose is in Stormcage."

Rory watched as the two aliens, or more specifically, alien and part alien-part human, raced around the console, setting her in flight once more.

"We're going to see River?" he asked. His head had cleared as soon as John had turned on the magnets, and aside from a small bit of lost memory from the past hour, Rory was fine.

"Yeah, we think Rose might've gone to Stormcage," The Doctor pushed some more buttons.

"Ooookaaaay, there," John sprinted around the console, "Got a lock on Stormcage, 51st century, prisoner River Song maximum security prisoner, cell block… number… ah gotcha. There, just plugging in those coordinates." He paused for a moment , "Ah, well now, that's going to be a slight problem."

"What is?" The Doctor joined him at the view screen.

"We can't land."

"What?" Amy said with an unbelieving laugh, "We've landed in Stormcage loads of times. Almost inside River's cell."

"Well we can't now," John looked up, "There's a force…field… no hang on. What is that?"

"What is that?" The Doctor looked bewildered, "That's new."

"Great, now we've gone beyond even _his _knowledge," Rory said, walking up to Amy, "Now I feel _really_ good about this plan. Barging into a maximum security prison to talk to one of the top prisoners to find another prisoner and possibly break them both out. And now we've got to walk through the front door."

"No," John shook his head, "We could always use the back door."  
>"There isn't one," The Doctor said immediately, "Well whatever this thing is… it's not good for the TARDIS, especially in this condition. So I think we go by Rory's plan."<p>

"Okay, great," Rory rolled his eyes, and then froze, "Wait. What plan? I had a plan?"

"Like you said," The Doctor grinned broadly, "Through the front doors."

John was sitting on the captain's chair, carefully going over the plans of Stormcage. They were trying to do something neither of the Doctors were very comfortable with- coming up with a solid plan over ten minutes beforehand.

"So we go through the front doors, yeah," Amy said, looking over John's shoulder, "We use the psychic paper, say we're, I don't know, umm, workers? New guards?"

"Hmm," John said shaking his head, "Psychic paper's risky. They might have psychic training," He looked up at her, realizing her silence meant she hadn't understood, "They might be able to see through the psychic paper."

"Oh, well there goes that plan then," Amy sat down on the floor. "Doctor, any ideas?"

"This isn't really my element," he said, "The whole practical approach thing and all. I mean I could get us inside. Just walk up, make up some story, and get in. But this time we have no way of getting the TARDIS in, and we need to stay in the prison long enough to find Rose and get her out of there. Normally we'd run in, grab River and run out. But now we might need to go all around Stormcage, and it's _pretty _big." He said, emphasizing the 'pretty'.

"Doctor?" Rory said, "Why don't we scan Amy's phone. The TARDIS is stable, maybe it can figure out what those number… things… are. It might help. 'Cause, Amy weren't you in the kitchen when you were doing the thing with your phone? Maybe that's what Rose meant. The phone."

"Yes," the Doctor nodded, "Yes! Rory that's a great idea. It really is."

"How is it?" Amy asked, "Not that I doubt you or anything."

"It's okay." Rory nodded.

"Well, whatever those numbers are, from what we can tell they're a program, or a virus, or a key. Again, educated guesses," The Doctor grinned at Amy, "Not too sure which, TARDIS should figure it out quick enough. So, Amy. Phone."

She tossed him the phone and he set to work.

"So, after we get past security, if the phone does anything," John picked up the banana lying next to his foot, "What then? Find River, get her out? What if she doesn't know where Rose is?"  
>"We get her out," The Doctor said, still intent on the phone, he looked up, "Even if she doesn't have a clue where Rose might be, she could help us out."<p>

John sighed and leaned back, peeling the banana. He went back to looking over the plans of Stormcage, now while eating a banana.

"So Doctor, you never really said," Amy leaned against the console, next to the Doctor, "Why can't you just use the sonic screwdriver? On the security doors and all."

"Knowing Stormcage they're probably deadlocked," The Doctor moved around her to get to a lever, "Well, they're most likely deadlocked. So we'd need a key. But hopefully this has something useful." He held up the phone.

"But that's a tiny chance," Amy frowned, "It could be anything."

"Yes, it could," The Doctor smiled, "But then again, Rose seems to have been helping us along the way. The trail to Stormcage, the magnet, possibly this. And when she was here, she was helping out, not pointing us in the wrong direction."

"But she made us think those Ga'eira things and the Silence were doing it."

"Yes, but then we looked for information on the Ga'eira and figured out how to work the magnet, which has now stopped us from screaming at each other, crying our eyes out, and going crazy." The Doctor was now back at the view screen, "Rory's better. You've got to look at the whole picture, Amy."

"Fine," Amy sighed and looked over at John, "Where did you even get that?"

"Library, found it under the sofa," John kept eating the banana, "It was with that stuff," he nodded towards the small pile next to his foot.

"Why-" Amy stopped and just rolled her eyes, "Never mind. Doctor, got anything yet?"

"Yes," He was frowning, "It's got a definite pattern, but the whole thing isn't there. There are 8,295,712 sections of numbers each with a combination of 387 numbers. The first section is labeled 8,295,713."

"So we're missing one section," Amy nearly laughed, "Well that's just our luck."

"So, Doctor, is it a virus or something?" Rory walked up next to them.

"No, it's not a virus, I can't tell exactly what it is. It's just a bunch of numbers, I mean I know the pattern, I could probably figure out this last section. Actually I have," He pointed at a slip of paper covered in numbers, "But it doesn't help. I don't know what the numbers are for."

He sighed and went to sit on the other chair in the console room.

"Well, if you look at a bank pin… number. The number you use to access your bank account," Rory said, "If you just saw the four numbers, you wouldn't really know what they were for."

"That makes no sense Rory," Amy glared at him, "Let the Doctor think."

"No, Rory, go ahead," the Doctor looked at him expectantly.

"Well, just say," He grabbed a piece of paper from his pocket and grabbed the pen lying in the console. He quickly wrote something and handed it to Amy, "What do you think that means?"

"I have no idea Rory," She sighed, "It's just four numbers."

"Yeah," he took the piece of paper and handed it to the Doctor.

_3526._

"I don't know," The Doctor said, "I'm guessing it's the bank code you were talking about."

"Well, yeah, it's supposed to be," Rory looked at him expectantly, "So, you get it?"

"Not really," The Doctor stood, "Wait! Yes!" He grinned, "Roranicus Pondicus you might just be a genius! If you aren't then you could get us all killed so let's hope it's the first one."

"Wait, what did Rory just figure out?" Amy asked.

Rory smiled, "Those numbers might some sort of security key thing. Since Rose has been leaving us these things I guessed it might be that."

"Wow," Amy gazed at him, "I never would have thought of that. And you did."

"No need to sound surprised," Rory grabbed her hands. "So, Doctor, are we going to Stormcage now?"

"Yes." He grinned at the couple.

Amy walked around the console and leaned close to the Doctor, whispering, "Doctor, even you don't normally put so much on so little. I mean that bank thing is a really long shot, like you said we could get killed. You're now putting our lives at risk just on some little idea Rory had. I mean Rory is stupid or anything, it's just, well I would have thought wouldn't go running off as soon as he mentioned some very unlikely possibility."

"Yes, I know," The Doctor looked over the console at Rory, "Except," he stopped what he was doing and turned to Amy, "He had a connection with Rose, even if it was just to pull the TARDIS' together. If she planned on you putting those numbers into the phone, then maybe Rory picked up something after having their minds connected."

"So you think Rory might have been able to go into Rose's mind?" Amy asked, pushing back some thoughts.

"Noo, not like that," The Doctor sighed, thinking, "But it might have left some things, I don't know, ideas or things. We are influenced by the world around us, we can get ideas from the most random things- something someone said, the way someone was acting a certain day, what some stranger did on the street, and so many other things. He could have thought of that because when Rose was connected to him-"

"He might have picked up on it?" Amy finished as a question.

"Yes," The Doctor moved away, sending the TARDIS to Stormcage.

The four time travelers walked out of the TARDIS and into a small, cold room. It was similar to a large metal box.

There was a desk at the far end with a young woman sitting behind it. She hadn't noticed the TARDIS appearing, Amy noted. _Strange._

They walked up to the woman. The Doctor staying five feet behind Rory, with John leading. When they were within three feet, with the Doctor stopping, still five feet behind Rory, she moved.

_Hello, and welcome to Stormcage. No visits are allowed. No exceptions. Please state your intent._ The mechanical voice came from a small speaker in the desk. The woman flickered.

"Hologram," John whispered to Amy when she jumped.

"Umm, yes, hello," John said, "We had a question about the security of this place. Could you please state all laws and rules, including ones that are now not in affect, about the security of this prison and all the measures that go into it. Thanks."

The hologram started speaking.

"Right, you three, just stand there for a second," The Doctor walked past the desk, "She'll keep talking, if you move she'll set the alarm off." He went to the only door in the room. It had a small keypad next to it, "Ah, 425.316, that's it," The keypad swung outwards to reveal a compartment that had a wire with a small light on the end. The Doctor stuck it into the charging port of her phone and pulled out his sonic screwdriver.

He had worked for about a minute when the door slide open, "Ha! There," he spun around, "Back in a mo."

After four minutes of listening to the all the reasons why Stormcage has a 'No-visit policy', Amy turned slightly to John, "Why are we just standing here listening to this?"

"Oh, didn't we tell you?" John frowned, "Huh. Well, the hologram goes answers your question, but makes you listen to the whole answer, that way you don't miss anything. But it makes you stand there until it's done, so you can't move, but it focuses all the movement detectors and heat detectors around the desk, three feet from the desk in every direction."

"So we're stuck here until it's done talking?" Rory asked in a whisper.

"Yup," John grinned. "Well, until this happens."

The lights flickered and the hologram faded. The voice cut out and the Doctor appeared in the doorway, "Well come on then." He grinned at them and ran back through the doorway.

The three joined him in the next room.

"So now we find River," Amy said, looking to the Doctor.

"Yup," John said, "Here, it's just a ten minute walk." He pulled out the blueprints. "We are here," he pointed out their location, "And she is… there."

"We'd better start then," The Doctor turned to Rory, "You were right," he said laughing, "It_ was_ the security code. The override. If there was a lockdown you could only use that to open the doors. But it can only be used going _in_. If you're going out, then you have to put the code in manually. Only one man has this code. Other than us."

"All thanks to Rose," Rory said, "So, shouldn't we start?"

The Doctor turned around and led the way deeper into Stormcage.

After walking for around five minutes Rory spoke up, "Isn't it strange that we haven't run into any guards? There're always a couple guards patrolling when we drop off River."

"That's in the maximum security bit," The Doctor replied, "Only in her section. The rest of the place has electronic security, but it's almost impossible to get by the firewalls and passwords. It's nearly as impossible to break into Stormcage as it is to break out."

"Yet River does it all the time," Amy said with a smile.

"So, I never really asked," John said, "But, River's in Stormcage? Any particular reason?"

"Ehh, we don't really know," The Doctor glanced awkwardly at Amy and Rory, "Have a few suspicions but… well not really certain."

They kept walking, The Doctor using Amy's phone to open up all the doors they came to.

When they were nearly there the Doctor paused before opening up the last door. "You know, Rory, I told you why there weren't any guards before, but now we've been in the higher security area for two sections now, there should be at least one guard." He opened the door, "Maybe something's going on."

They walked down the hall, small cells on their right as they searched for Rivers. After a minute they heard a familiar voice.

"Well hello sweetie." River said with a smile.

_River! Sorry. Again too much sugar. So yes, Thanks for the reviews and the favorites once again. Please review, I love reviews, I'm so happy with 13 at the moment._

_:D hoping you still like the story._


	10. Rescue

**Chapter 10**

**Rescue**

"River," The Doctor walked up to the cell, "How are you?"

"Oh, fine," She smiled, "And you?"

"Not so good," He frowned, "We're looking for someone. Her names Rose Tyler, we think she might be here?"

"And you came to me... why?" River kept smiling.

"Well, different reasons," The Doctor replied, "So, help us?"

"Of course," She backed away from the cell, "Except, better warn you, the sonic isn't going to work and I can't open the doors."

"We have the master key… sort of," The Doctor held up Amy' s phone, "It has all the codes."

"Ah, but the cell doors need an actual key," River said, "Ever since this new prisoner arrived security's gone crazy. They've moved all the guards to that wing, she was in the cell next to mine for a couple days but she was moved. They took out all the keypads for the cells and now you can only use a physical key. There's a specific one for each cell door. Of course there is an overall key, a skeleton key. It fits into all the locks, but only one man knows where it is and he's billions of miles away. So, I'm stuck in this cell. They took my vortex manipulator."

"So you're actually stuck in there now," Amy raised her eyebrows in surprise, "No way out?"

"No, none at all," River sighed.

"This new prisoner, did you get a good look at her?" The Doctor asked.

"As good as possible," River sat on her bed, "She was smaller, blond with brown eyes. Definitely had an English accent, not sure of the specific one."

"That sounds like Rose," John moved forward, "Where did they take her?"

"Oh, now you're new," River smiled and walked forward, "Doctor River Song, and you are?"

"John, John Smith, sort of," He shook her hand, "Any idea where she is?"

"I heard them talking about the general area they were taking her. The second maximum security zone. They were moving all the other prisoners to other cells. She's going to be alone there."

John rummaged through his pockets, "Have it… in here… somewhere. Aha." He pulled out the blueprints quickly, causing the other things in that pocket to follow. "Where is it? Can you point to it on here?"

River pointed out the section and was going to sit back down when she froze, "Where did you get those?" She said, pointing to the floor next to Amy's foot where the contents of John's pocket had fallen.

"What? I don't know, I think I got the sweets from some carnival in the Jeistrel Nebula, not sure where, huge carnival," John frowned, "The keys… well not sure. Found them under a sofa in the library."

"Whose sofa was it?"

"Mine," The Doctor said, "And no, I've no idea where we got the keys."

"That one, right there," She said, "The dark gray, bluish one." Amy held it up, "Yes, that one. That's the skeleton key."

"Really?" the Doctor said, "Well that's interesting. We seem to be very lucky today."

"Or it could be Rose, like you said," Rory added.

"Or it could be that," The Doctor nodded, he unlocked the cell door, "So River, coming?"

"Definitely."

* * *

><p>They walked quickly through the halls, the Doctor opening all doors they came to with Amy's phone.<p>

After few minutes, River sped up to walk next to him. "So," She started, pulling out a blue book, their diary, "Where are we now?"

"Hmm," The Doctor said, thinking, "Just went to some gardens…"

"Gardens of Elia?" River smiled, "That was three days ago for me."

"Really?" The Doctor looked up, surprised, "Two weeks for me."

"Well, we seem to be in the middle somewhere," River smiled sadly, "The halfway point."

"Yeah, well, still got the other half to look forward too," The Doctor looked away, knowing what she meant. Each time she met him a again he would know her less, he knew because he remembered. As she started to know him even better he would stop trusting her.

And it would all lead up to the library, with CAL, the handcuffs and the countdown. He tried to push the memories to the back of his mind. River was still here, focus on that.

"So, Amy, Rory," River turned around slightly, still walking, "How's life?"

"Pretty good," Amy said, "Minus this bit of confusion we're in."

"Really? I was going to say not that good," Rory said, "I mean he said we were going to go to some resort planet, and we end up on a planet that was a huge dump, that's where we were a week ago, before this happened. But there were still people living there, on that dump planet and they decided they would worship red heads."

"Yeah, I liked that planet," Amy smiled, "Minus the whole it was a rubbish heap."

"Yeah, I was fine with it until they assumed I was your slave and I was to be sacrificed so you could be immortal," Rory responded, "No help from him though. What were you even doing?"

The Doctor tried to avoid his glare, "Well, I was… distracted. I mean it's not every day that you land on a planet that's a huge-"

"Pile of trash?"

"Yeah. And you know 'One man's trash is another man's treasure'," The Doctor grinned, "There was a huge wrecked ship. It was ancient, I didn't even recognize it."

"So how did you two get out of it?" River asked Rory. They were still five minutes from the new prisoner's cell. The prisoner they believed to be Rose.

"Well the Doctor sort of…" Rory thought about it, "They found him 'trespassing on an ancient burial ground'. That's how they described it."

"How was I to know they buried their ancestors in the ship?" The Doctor defended himself as River laughed.

"Yeah, well we got out of it," Amy smiled, "Had to convince them that I was a very angry goddess and that the Doctor didn't even deserve to be executed. They just exiled him, and Rory and I managed to get back to the TARDIS before he left."

The Doctor frowned, "I landed right next to the throne. It took days to get all the darts out of outside of the TARDIS."

The four were all smiling now, with John just walking in the back.

"You okay?" Amy asked, noticing.

"Yeah, I'm fine," John looked away, "I'm just worried. What if it isn't Rose?"

"Then we'll find some other way to find her." Amy reassured him. "We'll find her."

John nodded, not believing her. He couldn't stop the ideas flooding through his head. Rose betraying them, Rose not betraying them, Rose dead…

"Well this is the last door," The Doctor interrupted his thoughts. "Better do a quick scan."

He brought the screwdriver up and scanned, "Let's see, ten heat signatures, well eleven, but I'm guessing the last one is the prisoner… who is hopefully Rose." He added seeing the look on John's face. He felt exactly the same way.

"So how're we going to get past the guards?" Amy asked quietly.

"Umm." The Doctor paused, "No idea."

"We could always just walk in," River suggested.

"Em, maybe," John glanced at her, "But from those readings, they all have guns. Ready to kill us with."

"Yes, that is true," River looked around for a second, "Hold on. I have an idea."

She grabbed the skeleton key out of the Doctor's outside pocket and ran down the corridor, back where they came from.

"Where's she gone?" Amy asked.

The three men all shook their heads. "No idea," The Doctor said out loud.

They waited for about a minute before they heard her returning.

"River, what was that about?" The Doctor asked.

"I remembered where they put this," She held up her wrist with a smile. On it was the vortex manipulator.

The Doctor grinned. "So we just stick in the coordinates of the cell. Jump in there, grab her, and jump back here."

River nodded. "I'll just put them in and do-"

"No," The Doctor said, "I'll go, and I'm not taking no as an answer," He said in reply to River's glare. He quickly took the vortex manipulator and wrapped it around his own wrist, checking the coordinates.

John walked up to him, "I want to go," he kept going as he saw the Doctor had opened his mouth to reply, "I won't go in your place, but I want to go with you. It can transport more than one."

The Doctor knew the look in John's eyes and decided not to argue. It wasn't a very good idea to argue with himself in this sort of situation.

"Fine," He held out his wrist, "Let's go."

"You're coming back right to this spot yeah?" Amy said quickly before they had left.

"Yeah," The Doctor grinned, "They won't expect it. They'd probably think we were miles away, not a few feet. Safe enough."

"Come on," John had his hand on the vortex manipulator.

The Doctor nodded and they both disappeared.

* * *

><p>They reappeared in a small cell, the ten guards were in formation on the other side of the bars, three facing the door, two watching the corridor to the left while two others watched the corridor to the right.<p>

The worrisome bit was the three guards facing the cell. The three guards who immediately brought their guns up, ready to shoot.

The Doctor grinned, "Surprise." He turned to face the back of the cell, hoping the shock of their appearance would keep the guards frozen for the much needed five seconds it would take to get Rose out.

Except it wasn't Rose sitting on the bed in the cell. It was a man that the Doctor hadn't seen in over two years, right before his regeneration. He wasted a second just staring.

He then wasted another second to open his mouth and gasp out, "Jack?"

_:) I just had to put Jack in it. Sorry about the rambling about the dump planet, just thought it would be something they might start talking about. Also, I've had the idea for the story up till now for a really long time, so I knew it almost by heart, after this point it might take longer to update, possibly, maybe not.  
><em>

_Well, thank you so much for reading and reviewing(hint hint). :D  
><em>


	11. Old Faces

**Chapter 11**

**Old Faces**

"Doctor?" Jack nearly shouted out of surprise, except he was looking past the Doctor to John.

"Yes, hello," John raised his hand, "Come here," he grabbed Jack roughly by the arm and stuck his hand on the vortex manipulator. "We've wasted enough time staring, come on." He said to the Doctor. It was true, the guards were now coming forward, about to shoot.

The intruders and the prisoner disappeared into thin air.

Just to appear in the next hallway. Thankfully for them, the door blocked the view of them reappearing.

"Who's this?" River said in surprise.

"Where's Rose?" Amy asked.

"Rose?" Jack looked around in surprise, "What happened to Rose?"

"Long, complicated story," John explained, "We thought it was Rose in there. Just turns out it was you, Jack."

"Happens to me a lot," Jack joked. "So, are you going to introduce me to your friends?"

"Not yet," John said, "We need to get back to the TARDIS, we might still be able to track her, but the guards might come through that door at any moment."

Jack laughed, "Are we seriously in the next hall?" At a nod from both John and the Doctor he laughed again. "Well, are we going?"

"Yes," The Doctor said, holding out his arm, "River, Amy, Rory, put your hand on my wrist. Wait." He plugged in the coordinates for the entrance to Stormcage, "Now."

All six disappeared just as the alarms sounded and the door opened, the guards flooding out, running to alert the rest of the prison.

* * *

><p>"Ah, that's better," John smiled as the TARDIS appeared. The Doctor ran to open the door.<p>

"Come on, in." The Doctor entered, followed by the other five.

"Well, that's different," Jack said as he entered, "What'd you do? Change the theme, but keep some of the old one?"

"No, that's our part of the story," John said turning to Jack as the Doctor sent the TARDIS back into the Time Vortex, "So Jack, let's hear your story."

"Fine, but you'd better tell me yours. Right, so I was just minding my own business," Jack started, "Just wandering around the capitol of Seridon, you know the planet with the people with the blue skin and the-"

"Yeah, we know," The Doctor cut in, wanting to hear the rest of the story.

"Right, so, I was just wandering around when I accidentally walked into some chase," Jack paused, remembering it, "They were chasing some guy who had resisted arrest by the Stormcage guys and well, I got caught in the cross-fire. I was hit so of course they tried to help me, but it was a fatal wound." He gave a small laugh, "Well fatal to anyone other than me that is. So they thought it was strange that I survived and brought me to some facility to test me. Of course I didn't want to be dissected so I ran for it. They caught me and stuck me in here so the scientists could visit and do their work without me running. Then there was this panic because apparently one of the new prisoners had broken free when they were moving her, and apparently they thought I had a connection with her, or that's what I got from the conversation I overheard, and they moved me to that cell. From what I got, they thought she might come to break me out."

"You think it might be Rose?" The Doctor asked.

"I don't know," Jack shrugged, he seemed as though he was going to continue but Amy cut him off.

"Alright, just a second now," She walked up to Jack, "You still haven't explained who you are."

"Neither have you," Jack retaliated.

"Amy Pond, my husband, Rory," She pointed at Rory, "And that's River Song, or Melody Pond, but she prefers River. So, once again, who are you?"  
>"His name's Captain Jack Harkness," John informed them, "He's from the 51st century, he's a Time Agent, or was until he became a con-man. Rose and I met him during the London Blitz."<p>

"You're a time traveler too?" Rory asked.

"Yes, I am," Jack confirmed, "Although," he grinned at John, "I've never met someone as…" at John's warning glare he switched to, "Red headed as you."

Amy raised an eyebrow.

Jack sighed, "Wow, normally that wouldn't have happened. Must be tired, my recoveries normally aren't that bad."

"So, Jack," The Doctor cut in before Jack could continue, "What were you saying about Rose, before Amy interrupted?" He shot a glare at Amy, but they both knew he didn't mean it.

"It was just a hunch, they somehow found out I had a connection to you. Apparently the new prisoner was in the same block as me and she had connections with you. That's all I got, I just assumed it might be her, besides you just asked me how I came to be there, and I told you. So, Doctor, on the topic of Rose," he turned to John, "You going to explain what's happened to her?"

"Yes, but it'd be best if you called me John," John said, "To avoid confusion."

"Alright, John," Jack said, "Any reason why?"

"You're the Doctor?" River stared in surprise, "Really?"

"Um, yeah," John nodded, "Well, sort of. Best call me John still."

"So you're both the Doctor?" River smiled, "Oh, brings back memories."

Jack raised an eyebrow but didn't add a remark at John's glare so he decided on just. "You're the Doctor?"

"Yeah," The Doctor grinned, "Regenerated. Well, thought I was going to die, ended up regenerating, big surprise and all as I was crashing. But I lived, obviously. And by the way, that isn't really me." He said pointing to John, "Well, he is, but he isn't. Remember Davros and moving the Earth and the two mes?" At Jack's nod he continued, "Well he's the other me. He's the copy."

"Oh, right," Jack nodded again, "Shouldn't he be in the parallel world. You told me you put Rose and him there last time we spoke."

"Yeah, I did," The Doctor said, "But about three hours ago our TARDIS' melded together and Rose and… John are in our universe now. But Rose disappeared and we're trying to find her."

"Okay, hold on," Jack stopped the Doctor from rambling, "Can you repeat the story, but slower, and actually explain it?"

The Doctor nodded and told Jack all that had happened since Rose and John had appeared aboard the ship.

When he had finished, Jack stayed quiet for a moment before speaking. "So, she was behind it?"

"As far as we can tell…yes, she was." The Doctor admitted, "Except, who puts together a plan like this, runs at the first sign we're on to her, but then leaves devices with which we can follow her. But then the way they lead us to her brings us into contact with people who could help even more."

"So, she might _not_ be behind," Jack said, "Someone else might be behind it and she's helping you find out who?"

"Maybe, we can't be certain," The Doctor sighed and went back to the view screen to see if it could still track Rose.

"What are we going to do if-"

"When," John cut Rory off forcefully, knowing what he was going to say.

"What are we going to do _when,_" Rory corrected, "We find her. We're not even sure we can trust her."

"That's true," River put in, "You were just saying she might be behind this, with her own reasons for wanting you together. And I could see a reason for her trail to lead you to us," she motioned to herself and Jack, "If someone is making her do this, or she is doing it herself, this brings together some of people most able to stop whatever is happening."

"So you're saying this could be a trap?" Jack said before laughing, "This is about the most elaborate trap with the largest amount of variables I have ever seen, or even heard of. What were the chances of me getting shot fatally and spotted by one of the Stormcage guards. What were the chances of them finding out I had a connection to that other prisoner, through the Doctor… I mean, that's just from my side, you lot probably have tons more, there are so many different possibilities."

"If Rose still has the abilities the TARDIS gave her, when she became Bad Wolf," John interrupted, "And from all we've seen, she has, then she would be able to see through time and pick out what would happen. For all we know she planned this down to the second."

"So, if she's behind this, intending to send us into a trap…" Amy contemplated, "Then… there's no way we're getting out."

_Okay so the reason this is up so quickly is because I wrote it as part of the last chapter, but then decided it dragged out a bit and the last chapter had a good ending by itself. I realize this one's a bit short but I'll try to get the next one up quickly. So once again PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PRETTY PLEASE WITH A CHERRY ON TOP(unless you're allergic to cherries... then please, by all means, put your favorite candied fruit in place of the cherry) REVIEW! thanks again. :D  
><em>

"I don't know," Jack shrugged, he seemed as though he was going to continue but Amy cut him off.

"Alright, just a second now," She walked up to Jack, "You still haven't explained who you are."

"Neither have you," Jack retaliated.

"Amy Pond, my husband, Rory," She pointed at Rory, "And that's River. So who are you?"  
>"His name's Captain Jack Harkness," John informed them, "He's from the 51st century, he's a Time Agent, or was until he became a con-man. Rose and I met him during the London Blitz."<p>

"You're a time traveler too?" Rory asked.

"Yes, I am," Jack confirmed, "Although," he grinned at John, "I've never met someone as…" at John's warning glare he switched to, "Red headed as you."

Amy raised an eyebrow.

Jack sighed, "Wow, normally that wouldn't have happened. Must be tired, my recoveries normally aren't that bad."

"So, Jack," The Doctor cut in before Jack could continue, "What were you saying about Rose, before Amy interrupted?" He shot a glare at Amy, but they both knew he didn't mean it.

"It was just a hunch, they somehow found out I had a connection to you. Apparently the new prisoner was in the same block as me and she had connections with you. That's all I got, I just assumed it might be her, besides you just asked me how I came to be there, and I told you. So, Doctor, on the topic of Rose," he turned to John, "You going to explain what's happened to her?"


	12. Finding Rose

**Chapter 12**

**Finding Rose**

"Great," Rory said into the silence, "So now if she's decided we're dead we are! That's wonderful."

"No," John was frowning, "No, Rose isn't like that. She wouldn't do this unless something important was at stake. If she had something worth protecting, she would give her life. If it was the choice between her and some stranger she didn't even know, she would choose to put herself in that persons place."

"But we don't even know what… the TARDIS and Bad Wolf did to her," The Doctor said, at John's glare he whispered to him, "You think it doesn't hurt me to think of her in that way. I don't want her to be behind this, I don't want her to be the one doing all this. You think I don't still…" He still couldn't say the words… those three words.

John understood it, though. "Right!" He walked quickly past the Doctor, "We'd better start looking for her again. 'Cause I don't believe she's doing this for herself, if she is even doing all this herself. I think she's doing it to protect someone, or something, she believes needs to stay safe. And in that case, we aren't abandoning them. This is still a rescue mission." He glared at the others, as if daring them to contradict him. Instead Jack spoke up.

"Never said it wasn't, Doc," He moved forward to help out.

Soon the rest of the group was doing their part. The Doctor was tracking the now weak trail to find Rose, with the help of Jack, while John was checking that the TARDIS's were still running smoothly. Amy and Rory worked with River to go over the Ga'eira and Bad Wolf books, seeing if there were any clues from Rose.

After five minutes of not finding anything, Amy stood and joined the Doctor, "Getting anywhere?" she asked.

He waited a moment before answering, intent on the screen, "I've narrowed it down to three planets, it keeps moving around." He tweaked a dial before looking back, "Wait… hold on. There, one planet. Rotcodehtevoli 5, or Voli 5 as the inhabitants call it. Population three billion, mainly human, two major cities, both on the main continent. The signal is coming from the main continent, it'll take a couple minutes more."

John came over and started helping him with it.

Rory looked up from the book he was reading and looked over at Amy as she sat down next to him again, "You alright? You look a bit worried."

"We're chasing someone around the universe, trying to find them, not even sure if their on our side," Amy sighed, "Yeah, I'm a little worried." Amy thought of something, "River, did the Doctor ever say anything about this to you?"

"No, he didn't," River sighed, "His rules and all."

Jack came to join them, "I never got a chance to ask, how exactly do you three know the Doctor and… John?"

"We just know John and Rose from when they appeared on the TARDIS a few hours ago," Rory explained.

"The Doctor landed in my yard when I was seven," Amy said, then thought back on it, "Well, more like crash landed. He smashed apart my shed. He came back twelve years later, but he said it had only been five minutes."

"Tell me about it," Jack rolled his eyes, "He pretends he can fly this thing… I'm not so sure. You know, when he first met Rose, he apparently blew up the store she was working in, and he blew up the factory where my sonic blaster was made. He seems to have a problem keeping things intact."

"Yeah," Amy gave a small laugh, "Well he stopped this Prisoner Zero and these other aliens from roasting the Earth. He made this computer virus that reset all the counters."

"That was him?" Jack laughed, "I knew he had something to do with it."

"Yeah, it was him," Amy smiled at the memory, "Then he came back two years later, another five minutes according to him, and asked me to come with him. It was the night before my wedding," at Rory's look she corrected, "_Our_ wedding, sorry. We went, I met River and then we went back to Leadworth and picked up Rory. Then lots of things happened and Rory and I got married but kept travelling with the Doctor."

"And you?" Jack asked River.

"Known him my whole life," River smiled, "And you?" She repeated the question back to Jack.  
>"Tried to con him and Rose into buying a Chulla warship during the London Blitz. I thought they were Time Agents. Turns out I set a sort of plague around London. We fixed it and I ended up travelling with them. So you've known him your whole life, what do you mean?"<p>

"I mean I've known him my whole life," River smiled, "Technically since I was a baby. Rory and Amy can tell you that."

Jack shrugged, "Technically I've known him most of my life too, even though I met him when I was nearly forty."

Amy looked up, "You don't look that much older."

Jack grinned at that, "Yeah, well, I'm over two thousand years old. Mind you a good portion of that was spent choking to death buried underground in Cardiff. So you lot have known each other a while then?"

"Yeah," Rory said, "Me and Amy have known River her whole life," He said.

"Interesting," Jack said, noting the age differences, "I'd expect it to be the other way around."

"That would be strange," River smiled, "As they're my parents."

Jack's eyes widened at that, "Really? What're you, twice their age?"

"No," She smiled, "But yes, they are, I just grew up in the 1960's, the Doctor found me. It's a very long story," she said, her smile fading.

Before Jack could ask another question John ran over. He was grinning.

"We've found her."

* * *

><p>They had landed in an old warehouse. The warehouse was in the industrial district of the smaller of the two main cities of Voli 5, as John explained.<p>

"So Rose should be here," John said, pulling on his long brown overcoat he had found in the TARDIS console room, "So, we should split up, groups of two yeah?"

"Maybe we don't need to," The Doctor said, nodding towards the other end of the warehouse. There was something resembling any overly large cage, with someone lying on a small cot in the middle.

They all ran up to it.

"Rose?" John said, pushing his arm through the bars, "Rose, is that you?"

The person on the cot slowly sat up. It was indeed Rose.

"Doctor!" She smiled.

"Which one?" The Doctor said.  
>"Both," She kept smiling, "Knew you would find me." She saw Jack and River, "And I see you've picked up some friends. Good to see you Jack."<p>

"And you," he grinned.

"Oh, and nice to meet you, River," Rose stuck her hands through the bars to shake hands with River, "I'm guessing you've figured out who I am. Rose, if you hadn't."

"We'll get you out of here and figure out how to fix all this," John said, pulling his sonic screwdriver out.

"No," Rose shook her head, the smile fading, "You won't, you're gonna leave me here. I need you to do something for me, but I can't go with you. If I leave here, they'll know and they'll come searching. I'm staying here."

"What? No," John protested, "We came all this way to get you Rose."

"You don't understand," Rose frowned, "Like I said before, you won't ever understand unless you wait. Be patient for once Doctor."

John took her hand, "Why can't you come?"

"Because," Rose took a deep breath, blinking back tears, "Because there's a great big reason that all this is happening. But I can't tell you now. They'll know. And we can't let them know."

"Rose, what's wrong," The Doctor moved next to John.

"It's complicated," Rose looked away, "I'll tell you all I can right now. A year ago. Well I think a year, can't really tell in here. So about a year ago, I found out… well I found out I was," She backed away from the bars, fidgeting, she finally looked up, "I didn't expect this to be the way I told you, see." She walked forward again, "I was pregnant."

John's eyes widen. At Rose's worried look, he reached forward and took her hands in his, "Rose, that's amazing. It really is."

"Hold on," Amy said, feeling awkward about interrupting, "You said a year."

"Yeah," Rose looked down at her feet. "I don't know what happened. It was two months after I found out when I woke up one morning and I was locked away in some place. They somehow unlocked all the things the TARDIS gave me when I looked into the heart. The gifts that made Bad Wolf. They made me reach out to you, to be with you, or make you believe I was there. I wasn't really there. I couldn't tell you, they made me."

"Who's they?" John said forcefully, "Rose, please. Tell me."

"I can't," She shook her head, "I don't know where they took the baby, but they have her. I needed you to realize I was gone, and I needed you to find me. You would need help, so I made sure the Doctor would be there. Actually I needed him anyways, to bring you to this universe. Well, it was actually Rory."

"What do you mean?" Rory asked.

"You've sort of," Rose seemed to be having trouble finding the right words, "Well you've got this… brightness. You're even brighter than Jack."

"Why would Jack be bright?" Amy asked, again confused.

"I don't know," Rose shrugged, "They've both sort of got this aura. It reminds me of what I remember of the heart of the TARDIS."

"Maybe Jack has it from when you brought him back?" John said.

"Brought him back?" Amy asked.

"That thing about Bad Wolf," John tried to explain quickly, "When Rose got those… gifts, she brought Jack back to life. But she didn't really do it properly, she brought him back forever."

"He's immortal now," The Doctor added.

"So he can't die?" Rory said, staring at Jack.

"Yeah, that's normally what immortal means," Jack said.

"Now he's got this sort of glow," Rose tried to explain, "I dunno, it's sort of like the light I remember. That's all I remembered from the Gamestation. And Rory's got it too."

"But I'm not immortal," Rory said, "I mean last time I checked I could die. I mean I did die. Then I was Roman… and plastic."

"Well that's… new," John said, distracted for a moment, "You died and became a Roman?"

"Yeah, it was a weird Doctor trap thing." Rory said, "But I'm not plastic, or Roman anymore."

"Maybe that's it?" River asked, "Maybe it was the fact that he was erased from history and managed to come back?"

"No, that's not it," Rose said, "The light. It reminds me of Margaret. Remember? The Slitheen, in Cardiff?"

"What about her?" John looked confused.

"You opened up the TARDIS, the light that came out, that's what it looks like Rory has around him," Rose said, looking closely at Rory."So, like I was saying before, it's like the heart of the TARDIS."

"I'm glowing?" Rory asked, looking at his hand.

"Only I can see it," Rose explained, "Jack glows like that too, but you're-"

"Brighter," The Doctor said, "Yeah. But you brought Jack back using the power of the Time Vortex. The same Time Vortex that runs through the TARDIS." He looked up, "Ah! That's it!"

"What? The Time Vortex?" John looked around at Rory, "What about it? If you're saying that just traveling in the Time Vortex gives you that glow, then why don't any of us have it?"

"But Rory's done more than just travel in the TARDIS," The Doctor smiled, "Rory, Amy, do you remember when House took control of the TARDIS with you still inside and… the TARDIS and I were trying to get to you?"

"Yeah, course we do," Rory replied.

"Who took control of the TARDIS?" John asked, not used to not understanding.

"A sentient asteroid at the edge of the universe named House who… eats… TARDIS' by pulling them out of their body, the ship, and putting them in a host until they fade." The Doctor explained quickly, "Except he found out she was the last TARDIS so he took the shell and flew back to the universe to find more so the TARDIS and I chased after them, because Amy and Rory were still on board. The TARDIS became a woman for about an hour."

"Interesting," John said thoughtfully, "So-"

"Look, can we just get back to figuring out what's going on?" Amy said.

"Yes," The Doctor turned to Amy and Rory once more, "So do you remember?"

"Yes, we remember the TARDIS and House and the asteroid," Rory said getting slightly annoyed, "But what do they have to do with me… glowing?"

"Do you remember how she contacted you?" the Doctor replied, "To give you information about how to let us inside the TARDIS that House was in?"

"Yeah, well sort of," Rory said while Amy said, "No."

"She connected with you," The Doctor said, starting to smile, "She connected to your mind."

"Aaaand?" Rory asked, still not fully understanding.

"It's a TARDIS! The TARDIS is slightly telepathic, it's how it translates all the languages for you," The Doctor said, "But it can't exactly communicate with you, at least not with words, like she did with you."

"So you're saying she had a stronger link with me?" Rory asked.

"Well no, but she made one, just for that once," The Doctor smiled, "But it must have left a mark."

"So I'm glowing because the TARDIS was in my mind?" Rory asked, "I _think_ I get it."

"Well, let's just say that's what happened," The Doctor said, "If you're having trouble with that I won't explain further, you humans'll just get more confused." He ignored Amy and Rory's glares.

"That's all I can tell you now," Rose said, "You need to go back to the TARDIS now. She'll take you where you need to go. You'll know what to do there."

"Rose-" John tried to protest once more.

"No," She said with force, "You need to go."

"We'll come back," John said as he followed the others to the TARDIS.

Rose nodded slowly with a small, sad smile. As the TARDIS dematerialized, she sat on the cot and calmly waited as the warehouse, the cage, even she herself, faded into nothingness.

* * *

><p>John and the Doctor moved quickly around the console, pressing buttons, pulling levers, typing away on the typewriter.<p>

"We're going to get this done quickly," John said, more to himself than to his friends, "We're going to finish it and go right back there and get her out and fix this."

"Where are we going?" River asked, "Any idea?"

"Sort of," The Doctor said, "The TARDIS isn't really telling us, this is just to keep her steady."

"Right," River nodded, "You do realize you're sending us to the 5th century at the moment?"

The Doctor looked down at what he was doing and pulled his hands off the console, "Whoops." He immediately went back to work, trying to fix his mistake.

"Every time," River said with a smile to Amy, Rory, and Jack. She glanced at Amy, "Feeling better?"

"Yeah, a bit," Amy shrugged, "I don't know. At least we found out why it was Rory. I just hope we get through this."

Just as she said those words, the TARDIS was rocked sharply. As it steadied Rory looked around.

"What. Was. That?" He said. The lights flickered and the TARDIS jerked around some more. Sparks flew and the time machine shook. It took every ounce of strength for the passengers to hold on and not be flung against the walls.

After a minute, it stopped.

John dragged himself to his feet and looked at the view screen.

"We're here," John said quietly, looking up, the TARDIS had calmed down and the lights were back to normal, "Come on." He led the way out of the TARDIS. The others stood shakily and followed.

"Where are we?" Rory asked.

"Looks like some sort of a space ship yeah?" Amy said, walking past Rory.

"Yeah, I think it is," John spun in a circle, taking the large room in. There were computers and instruments all over the place, lights flashing, things beeping, "Proper space ship."

"This is a Meridan Class ship," Jack said in amazement. At Rory and Amy's blank looks he added, "Most durable ships ever made, but extremely expensive, there really rare. Most people never even see one, let alone two." He said as he gazed out the window.

"Hold on," John said, joining Jack, "Is it just me, or is that ship moving right for us?"

"It's moving pretty fast," Amy said, worried.

"Nah, it's fine, these ships, they're programmed to fly themselves around obstacles, you couldn't run into anything, not even manually," The Doctor reassured them.

"Yeah, well it doesn't look like it's turning away," Amy said. Their musings were interrupted by one of the rooms many doors bursting open.

Fifteen men, humans by the look of it, ran in and formed a circle around them. They all wore uniforms that reminded Amy of the army, slightly different though.

A man followed the soldiers, their captain, Amy guessed.

Her guess was proved right when the man spoke, "Who are you and what are you doing on my ship? My name is Captain Leland Overemy, and you are?" he said forcefully.

"Yes hello," The Doctor stepped forward, just to be pushed back by fifteen guns pointed in his face, "I'm the Doctor. Do you mind? I'd rather not have a gun shoved in my face."

"They will stay there until I have decided whether or not you are, in fact, a threat," Overemy stated, "So, Doctor, who are your friends?"

"I'm John… Smith," John put in, "This is Jack Harkness, he's a Captain too."

"I'm Amy Pond, this is Rory and that's River," Amy said.

"I would say nice to meet you," Overemy said, "But under the circumstances, that will not happen. So, what do you know about the Charybdis?"

"Ooh, lots," The Doctor started, "I mean, the Greeks believed it was a whirlpool intent on ripping apart ships, but I knew her as a great dancer, and then there was her sister, Scylla. Those two…. Good times. But last time I checked, she was in Ancient Greece. Not the 53rd century in the Trireme System. "

"Not the myth," Overemy replied, "The ship. That ship in fact. That is the Charybdis, and you are currently aboard the Scylla."

"Ah, sister ships," The Doctor smiled in knowing, "And why do you ask what we know about it?"

"It was just recently taken over," Overemy started to explain, "They demanded we stop our engines, take the Charybdis' crew and let them fly away. If we did not comply, they would ram us. They took out the core computer, they will ram us."

"Oh," The Doctor said in surprise, "Well then, Amy- sorry, you were right. We are in danger. And why do you think we would have known this?"

"The men who took over the Charybdis were not on board when we took off," Overemy said, "And you lot just turned up on the Scylla's internal scanners."

"Ah," John took over, "Well, you see, we didn't realize this was happening. We got these coordinates… from a friend and-"

His words were cut short as the Charybdis slammed into the Scylla, throwing soldiers and time travelers alike across the room.

John was the first to get shakily to his feet, "Well that wasn't so bad. Must have just glanced off the side."

He went to help Jack up when a huge explosion rocked the ship.

Amy felt as though the whole ship were being ripped apart, her along with it.

As the roaring seemed to rip at her ears and she was nearly blinded by the light of the explosion, everything faded into blackness.

_***Sigh* Okay that chapter took a lot of effort, I've no idea why, but it did. Well, anyways, thanks for reading, as always, hope you like it and PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE REVIEW. I love and appreciate feedback very much, and as I've said if you read these A/N then one review makes me happy for a whole day. So once again, thanks for reading this.**  
><em>


	13. The Scylla

**Chapter 13**

**The Scylla**

_Amy._

She knew that voice, but why was he so far away.

"Rory?" She mumbled. She tried to say it again, but stopped when her jaw twinged painfully.

_Amy! She's awake!_ It still sounded as though he was saying it from a great distance.

_Move aside!_ The Doctor's voice.

Amy tried to open her eyes, but stopped. Her head ached too much.

She felt hands on her shoulders. They shook her slightly.

"Owww," She mumbled again.

_Sorry! Sorry! _ The Doctor's voice again. Why didn't he come any closer?

_Hey, move aside, she's still trapped. _ Jack. That was Jack Harkness. His voice sounded clearer than the other two.

"Amy?" Rory shook her slightly. She finally opened her eyes, "Are you okay?"

"M'head hurts," She said, rubbing her forehead.

"Here," the Doctor handed her a small pill, "Painkiller. It also helps your body heal quicker. You aren't hurt badly, just bruised and bumped. We all are."

"What happened?" Amy's memory was fuzzy.

"The Charybdis hit us," Jack said, "We were lucky, the soldiers and Overemy weren't."

"There were two," Amy swallowed the pill, taking a gulp of some water River offered her, "Sorry, there were two. Explosions. No, you said," She pointed a shaky finger at John "You said it was just grazing us. What was that second one?"

"We think," The Doctor paused and exchanged a glance with Rory, who nodded, "Well, we're pretty sure… those were the engines. The Charybdis grazed the Scylla, but hit the engines. We can't move, but we checked and it's nudged us towards a planet. We're probably going to crash."

"So let's get in the TARDIS," Amy said, standing, at Rory's worried glance she added, "I'm feeling better, that pill worked."

John looked at the others and then walked up to Amy, "We checked, and the ships on a collision course for the of the largest populated city on the planet below. This ship, if it crashes, is going to wipe out every living thing within miles of it… which includes that city."

"So we're staying on board," Amy said with a groan, "Okay, we'll save those people. Got any ideas how?"

"Actually, yes," The Doctor grinned.

* * *

><p>The Doctor led the group through the corridors of the ship, making sure they weren't spotted by the guards. They ended up in a long, narrow room with five doors set into one wall.<p>

"The escape pods?" Jack said, slightly surprised, "What're we going to with those?"

"The Charybdis is close enough to us that if we were to hit it correctly, at the right moment and make it explode, the shockwave will hit the Scylla and cause it to be nudged into a more safer path." The Doctor said.

"Right, but I thought there were other people on the Charybdis," Rory said, "And won't the Scylla still crash?"

"Yes, it'll still crash, but we're far enough away that it'll crash into the ocean," The Doctor said, "Which is surprisingly big, it takes up half the world, all the inhabitants live on the only continent. All the cities are very crowded, which is why it is important we do this. And no, there was no one on the Charybdis, did a scan for life while you and Amy were knocked out and there was nothing."

"But Overemy said they got a demand from people-"

"Who had never boarded," The Doctor ended for Rory, "Because they never had. These ships, the Meridan Class, they're remarkable. They have the best med bays of all ships, and they are the most durable ships in existence, the only thing that could rip through the outer shell of this ship would be one of the same class, which is what happened. Also, I'm pretty sure the hijackers were not on board. Wouldn't want to risk it- being caught, and the impact, both very dangerous. These ships can pick up all life forms within two miles and give you an accurate reading of health, species, and the basics."

"So they hijacked the Charybdis from a distance?" Rory asked.

"Yes," The Doctor confirmed, "Well, most likely."

"But Doctor," Amy said, "You said 'there was nothing' when you scanned for life on the other ship. What about the crew."

"If someone's hijacking this type of ship using a computer, or something like it, you could stop it manually," Jack said, "The scans also showed that all life support systems were non-functional. That's probably the first thing they did, cut it off, so the crew wouldn't be able to stop them taking over the ship by computer."

"So we're gonna blow up the Charybdis?" Amy asked.

"Yes," The Doctor was grinning again, "If we program all the escape pods to hit the engines, one after another, they could blow them up, causing multiple explosions resulting in a chain reaction throughout the ship. On massive explosion. Should be enough to nudge the Scylla away from the populated areas. After that we'll try and get everyone off this ship and get them to safety in the TARDIS."

"But they were all pointing guns at us," Rory said.

"I said try," The Doctor said, "I would like to be able to get everyone off, but some people are stubborn."

"Yes they are," River said, "Doctor, might I speak to you in private?"

"Course," The Doctor said, the others left the room.

"Those pods," River said, motioning to the doors, "Even if we program them from here, the computer override would stop them from colliding with the Charybdis. You'd have to hijack the computers, but you would need to be there. To the end."

"Yes," The Doctor said, now serious.

"So let me go," River said. She moved closer to the Doctor, he backed up slightly until he was in the doorway.

"No," The Doctor replied, "Not a chance. Besides, like you said, you'd need to hijack the computer. You can't do it manually. I've got the sonic screwdriver."

"No you haven't," River said.

"Yes. I. Do." The Doctor said with a glare, starting to search his pockets. He froze after a few seconds, "River. No, you can't."

"Yes, I can," She said, she pulled the sonic screwdriver out of her pocket, she apparently had taken it when he wasn't looking, "Look what I have here. I won't let you do this." She pushed the Doctor through the door way and shut it behind him, locking it.

He immediately found the com and turned on the connection, "River, please don't do this. You don't have a chance."

"I don't have a chance, and neither would you! I have to," His hearts nearly stopped at the familiar words. An image of River strapped in a chair, covered in wires. The Library. She continued, "One of us would have to do it, and it won't be you. You have to keep going. We have all those memories you still haven't gotten to yet."

The Doctor tried to think of something to say. He couldn't.

"The funny thing is," River said, "This means you've always known how I was going to die."

_No, don't say those words._ He thought. _You're supposed to say those in the Library. You can't die now._

He felt as though he was there now, in the handcuffs, unable to reach her.

_Time can be rewritten._ He had argued.

_Not those times. Not one line, Don't you dare._ She had said, looking into his eyes. _It's okay. It's okay, it's not over for you. You'll see me again._

He tried to pull himself out of the memory. The countdown. She couldn't die here.

"Doctor," River tried to finish, but couldn't, "Oh Doctor, good bye my love."

With that she cut the line and went to work. The Doctor backed away from the door slowly and went to his friends.

* * *

><p>"We need to get an idea of how many people are left," Jack was saying to John as the Doctor joined them.<p>

"Doctor," Amy smiled, "Wait, where's River?"

"Setting the escape pods up for the plan," He said.

"Is she meeting up with us at the TARDIS?" Amy asked, "Jack was saying we should head that way, to do a scan."

"Yeah, yeah she is," The Doctor lied, "That's a good idea. See how many people survived and where they are. Good idea, Jack."  
>"Thanks," He gave the Doctor one of his grins, "So come on, we don't have all day."<p>

They headed back to where the TARDIS had landed. Soon John and the Doctor had all the working computers scanning the ship for life and to see what was working.

"I've got… forty three… no, four, readings on this," John said, leaning close to the monitor, examining it closely.

"Ooh, now that's interesting, and very very good," The Doctor said with a smile.

"What? What is?" Amy asked, walking up to the Doctor.

"One of the engines is still intact," He grinned, "It's just disconnected. If we can reconnect the engine to the main controls then we can fly this thing away."

"That's great Doc, so do it," Jack said.

"Well, now there's a slight problem," The Doctor replied, pointing to the screen.

Jack moved next to him and looked over the readings, "Ah, see what you mean. Well, no problem. I can do it fine."

"Good," The Doctor clapped his hands, "Right, so let's go!"

"Where're we going?" Rory asked as they left the room.

"You, Rory and I are going to the bridge," John said, "The Doctor and Jack are going to the engines, to reconnect them."

They came to the end of the hallway, two doors at the end.

"Right, this is where we split up," The Doctor said, "Hang on a minute." He rummaged around in his pockets. While he did that, Rory moved to the window, noticing something moving past.

"There go the escape pods."

The Doctor paused a moment. "Oh River." He sighed so quietly, no one heard him. He found what he was looking for and pulled them out, "Spare communicators!" he handed one to John, "I've only got three, so, I'll take one, Jack take this one- so we can talk when you go in- and John, you take the third."

John put the communicator in his ear as the Doctor did the same, about to hand Jack his.

"Umm Doctor," Rory said.

"What Rory?" The Doctor said, holding out the communicator to Jack.

"There's something coming towards us," Rory told him.

Jack walked up next to Rory, "_Shit!_ Rory move!" He slammed his fist on what Rory guessed was the door's controls and shoved Rory through. He grabbed John and the Doctor while yelling at Amy to get through the door. He was almost through himself when the debris Rory had seen flying toward the ship smashed through the hull.

Jack tried to hold on to the side of the door and the Doctor and John tried to keep their grip on his arms. A piece of metal hit Jack on its way out the hole in the wall of the ship created by the debris. Jack lost his grip and soon followed the hunk of metal. Jack had been shot into space.

"Jack!" John screamed as the Doctor smashed his fist into the door's controls, closing the airtight doors before all the air could leak out.

"What just happened?" Rory asked, shaking his head, trying to clear it but failing, "What… ugh, what happened."

"We lost Jack," The Doctor said, staring out the window nearest to him as he stood. "A piece of the ship from the first collision must have been pulled back and hit us. It's a good thing you pointed it out, or we all would be floating in space."

"We can go get him right?" Amy asked, " Using the TARDIS. Right. Doctor? Jack isn't dead, you said he couldn't die."

The Doctor just shook his head, "The TARDIS went with him."

The others joined him to watch the blue box float away.

"So, we don't have a way out?" Rory asked.

"Well, the TARDIS will have locked onto the planet below," The Doctor said quietly, before immediately smiling, "Well focusing on the pluses, we're getting closer to the TARDIS."

"But it's floating away," Rory pointed out.

"Yes, but it's heading for that planet," The Doctor said, "And so are we."

"But you already said, you can't fly this thing," Amy said before her eyes widen, "Doctor, you said this was going to crash."

"Yes."

"Into what?"

"Into that planet."

"But you're going to find a way to land it so we can get to the TARDIS?"

"Well, land…crash, Amy, I've told you this before, it's going to crash," The Doctor moved away from Amy, "Well at least we know where the TARDIS will be."

"But we'll be dead," Rory said.

"Well there is that possibility," The Doctor said, "Right now, we should focus on trying to find a way to get this ship working, or something similar."

"But there's still guards, Doctor," Amy said, "And they've already said… this time they aren't waiting before shooting. As soon as they see us, we're dead."  
>"So we won't let them see us." John put in, "Obvious right?"<p>

"Right," Rory said, not really agreeing, "Should we go and find River?"

"River was in that escape pod," The Doctor said, "She's out."

"But you said those escape pods…" Amy walked up close to the Doctor, "You said they were on a collision co-"

The sky outside lit up in fire. The second ship had exploded.

"River was on that," Rory said, "Doctor, was River on that? Don't lie to us this time!"

"River was on that." The Doctor said, adding in a whisper, "No more library."

"Doctor," Amy was glaring at him, "You knew that would happen."

"So did she," The Doctor tried to justify it, both to Amy and himself.

"Yeah, but she's River," Amy was getting angry, "You could have tried to stop her."

"Yeah, and then everyone would be dead, not just her," The Doctor argued, "Besides, I tried. I couldn't stop her. Someone needed to be on those to pilot them there."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Rory came, "She's our daughter!"

"Because we would be having this argument, but it would be stopping her and…" The Doctor trailed off, not wanting to continue.

"You said the escape pod would just be sent there and it would hit the engines… it didn't need a pilot," Rory reminded him, "Why did you tell us that?"

"The same reason I didn't tell you River was on the escape pod, you wouldn't want anyone to go."

"Couldn't you have sent Jack?" Rory asked.

"No, there was a chance…" The Doctor shook his head, "We needed Jack to- Well to do something that he hasn't done. The escape pod needed a pilot to cut off the automatic pilot which would fly the pod safely around the other ship. It was a suicide mission."

"But Jack just flew out the airlock," Amy was almost shouting.

"Yes, but at least she started the explosion," The Doctor said, "Only the people on this ship are going to die, no one on that planet will."

"But that means we're dead," Rory said, taking a deep breath as John walked past him to access a nearby computer.

No one spoke for a minute until John broke the silence, "We have a problem."

"What is it?" The Doctor joined him.

"One of the engines was dead," John said, taking in the new reading of the ships, "The Charybdis' explosion moved us, but not enough. Now there are _three_ cities within the blast radius."

"So now she died for nothing." Amy's anger was renewed at this newest discovery.

"But what was Jack supposed to do?" Rory asked, "Why did you need him here?"

"We needed him to go into the engine room and manually reconnect all the lines," John explained, "Giving us the ability to fly the ship."

"Why can't anyone else do it?" Amy asked.

"He's done it before," John tried to explain, "And the room is soaked in radiation that leaked from the dead engine. There's also a hole in the exterior shell, meaning there isn't much air. That's what the Doctor and Jack were going to do."  
>"What about space suits or stuff like that?" Rory asked, trying to distract himself from the fact River was now dead.<p>

"It's too much weight," The Doctor said, "The people who made this ship, well they claimed it was… unsinkable in a way. The exterior shell is made of the toughest element around. The only thing that could cut through the hull of this ship is-"

"An identical ship," Rory finished, "But they didn't expect that one to ram into this one?"

"No, there's a lock on the computer, if it senses another ship is near or on a collision course it flies it safely around it," The Doctor answered, "Like the escape pods."

"So only Jack could fix the engines," Amy said, "Right, so River died for nothing, and now the rest of us are going to die!"

"That's the way it looks," The Doctor admitted, "But Amy, we could still save the people on that planet. We're headed on a collision course for the most populated area and-"

"And we're now going to sacrifice ourselves for them," Amy nodded.

"Yes," The Doctor said, "We can cut off all the shielding and see if we can open up the flaps for reentry. The flaps will cause even more friction, there're used in emergency landings, to slow the ship down, but only when it's already on the ground, not on entry into the atmosphere. The ship is durable on the outside but extremely weak on the inside. If we can somehow expose the inside, then the friction from entry into the atmosphere should probably rip it apart quick enough. The flaps should do that, they'll expose enough of the less durable parts, and then the ship will be ripped apart from the inside."

"It'll rip us up too," Rory said.

"Yes, but now we've decided that we're not going to make it out," The Doctor replied, leading the way to the bridge, "So what we need to do is cut off the shields, cut off the power, and open the flaps."

"Couldn't we just shut off the generator and open the flaps?" Rory asked, "Amy and I could turn off the generator, if you tell us where it is, and you two can open the flaps." He had now accepted their plan, which most likely ended with them dying on entry to the atmosphere.

"No, that wouldn't work," John said, still walking towards the bridge, "The shields have their own independent power source, it can't be turned off and it will never run out, it's solar powered. If we turn the shields down to minimum then the backup shields will kick in, those are powered by the generator."

"Okay," Rory nodded, "So, you just go to the bridge and the Doctor can turn off the shields."

"Mm, except, I don't have the sonic screwdriver," The Doctor said, he added quietly, "River had it."

"So John can go," Amy said.

"But we would need the sonic to get into the generator room," John said. "Oh here. Rory, you go to the bridge, when you get there we can talk you through how to open the flaps, it isn't that hard. Turning the generator off is a two man job which involves the sonic to enter the room. The Doctor and I'll go. Amy go to the shield room." He ran up to the nearest computer and pulled up a map, "When we get to the generator room, we'll tell you the passcode. All high security doors have the same override passcode. You just go in there and put all the dials on the screen down to one percent. Got that?"

"Sort of," Amy said, "I get the dial bit, but how are you going to tell me the passcode."

"With these," The Doctor grinned, catching on to John's plan quickly. He held out the communicator that had been meant for Jack. Luckily he had held onto it tightly. John pulled his out of his ear and handed it to Rory, "We can keep in touch easily."

"Okay," Rory said, "So. We split up now?"

"Yes," The Doctor said with a nod, walking over to a door, he opened it and stepped through, followed by John, "Good luck."

With that he close the door. Immediately Amy and Rory both heard the Doctor's voice.

_Can you two hear me?_ It came from the communicators.

"Yeah, I can hear you fine," Amy said. To Rory it sounded like an echo.

"Yeah, same," Rory replied. "So, good luck Amy."

"And you," She kissed him on the cheek and walked through the next door.

Rory walked to the end of the hall and headed for the bridge.

* * *

><p>The Doctor and John ran quickly through the halls, neither one speaking.<p>

As they were nearing their destination, Rory's voice came over the communicator.

_Doctor?_

"Rory? What is it?" The Doctor said quietly after looking around to see no soldiers were in the area.

_I'm at the bridge. No one's here._

"Oh," The Doctor said, "That's good and bad. The good is- they think there's no way you could use the bridge to your advantage, but the bad is, they've probably gone to the place we could. Such as the generator room and the shield controls."

At that, John looked around for another terminal and set to work hacking into the main system. "There." He said when he had found what he was looking for. "Ah."

The Doctor looked at the screen with John. There were thiry-nine life signs, apparently the crew had also suffered losses when the debris had hit the ship. One of the signals was in the bridge, Rory. Two halfway down a long hallway leading to the generator room and security center, the Doctor and John. The worrisome bit was the signals coming from the corridor outside the generator room and security center. There were about thirteen, they all carried a secondary signal which identified them as crew members, specifically the guards.

There were about ten other crew members scattered about the ship. The remaining signals were in a group, heading towards the shield controls.

"They're going to cut Amy off," The Doctor said, "Amy, they know where you're going."

_S..ry, ..at?_ Amy's voice came in spurts

The Doctor frowned, "She must be near the engines, the excess energy is messing with her communicator. Amy! You need to take a different route!"

_Ye-_ Her voice cut out but came back quickly, _Still go… shield control._

"She can't here me," The Doctor said, worried.

John though it through, "We'll get this done and head Amy off before they can, we can run that fast, if we take this route." He pointed out a quick path that would cross Amy's.

"Okay," The Doctor said, "Let's go see what we can do about these guards."

* * *

><p>The Doctor and John slid through the door as quickly as possible, crawling as fast as they could behind a nearby bin.<p>

Luckily only one of the guards noticed the open door. "Hey, you guys see anyone come through there?" He asked.

One of the others replied "No. These door sometimes just open randomly, don't worry about it."

The Doctor looked around the bin. All the guards were in front of the door to the generator room. About twenty feet in front of them. Only three feet to John's right was the door that led to the security system.

The Doctor took in the cameras at the end of the room and the larger panel on the generator room's door. Maybe it would be harder to get in their then they had first thought.

Rory's voice interrupted his thoughts. _Doctor? Hello? Can I have some help here?_

"Oh, right yes," The Doctor whispered as quietly as he could, turning the microphone up so Rory could still hear him, "Flaps."

_Yeah._ Rory said. _There's a big control panel with a screen in the middle of on the right of the room, is that it?_

"Yes, now Rory, follow my instructions carefully," The Doctor said. He quickly told Rory all the steps. Within a minute Rory had almost finished.

"Alright," The Doctor said in a whisper, "Rory, just flip the two switches to the far right- no! Left," he corrected, trying to see the controls before him, "Then just switch all the dials above those to the…right. Then you need to just go to commands on the computer, it should just say that plain and simple."

_There, found it._ Rory said. _Then what?_

"It should be on the top," The Doctor said quietly as John peered around the bin they were hiding behind.

_Emergency landing controls?_

"Yes, that's the one, now just go to the third one down and press it," The Doctor said, trying hard to remember, "It'll ask you for a password, put in Minotaur, capitalized."

_Okay, there. _ Rory said. _Got it._

"Just follow the instructions it gives you." The Doctor said, "Oh and Rory. Check on the security grid."

_Umm, it's focused around the… well the generator room._

"Right," The Doctor repeated this to John. "We need to take down the security system, the sonic screwdriver won't even work, the security system has a deadlock seal."

The Doctor once again looked around the bin at the soldiers in front of their goal. He took a deep breath and turned back to John.

"I have to make the machines overload," The Doctor said firmly, looking John in the eye, "I know the power surge will alert them, use that as your chance to make get into the generator room. I'll be trapped in there, but we need the security systems taken out. For both the generator room and the shield controls. Oh, and take this, you'll need to stay in touch with Rory and Amy."

"I don't like this plan," John said solemnly, taking the communicator, "But we're dead anyways. Good luck."

"And you," The Doctor said.

"Think you'll have a chance to regenerate?"

"The power surge will stay for too long," The Doctor shook his head, "If they shoot me, the radiation and the excess energy will keep me from regenerating."

John nodded, he had already known that, but didn't want to accept it, "Well, goodbye then, Doctor."

"Goodbye Doctor," The Doctor said, "Good seeing you again."

"And you," John turned and crawled behind the bin closer to the generator room as the Doctor slipped into the security room.

John waited until he saw the soldiers move, reacting to the alarm sounding from inside the security room. He heard static for a second in the communicator, but soon it was replace by Rory saying the flaps would be open soon. Amy wasn't speaking anymore.

"Amy," John whispered. There was no reply. As ran to the door, sticking the sonic screwdriver next to the lock he pulled the communicator out of his ear. There was only one light instead of two. Amy's communicator was dead, probably from the power surge.

John stuck the communicator back in his ear just as the door slid open.

He went through quickly, closing the door behind him. But not quick enough to cover the sounds of gunshots and the thud of a falling body.

* * *

><p>"The flaps are open," Rory said into the com device, "Doctor? Hello?"<p>

_He's down._ Came John's voice. _I'm in the generator room, when I turn it off they'll find me. You need to get to Amy, they know where she's going. You need to get her to go around the long way, or they'll get her._

"Can't you just call her?" Rory asked, already knowing the answer.

_That burst of energy… she must have been too close to part of the security system, it fried her communicator._ John took a deep breath. _I'll turn off the generator. They're right outside the door. They'll get me. As soon as the generator's off, they should leave the bridge, you'll be able to get to Amy, but move quickly! We've got about five minutes until we hit the atmosphere._

"Okay," Rory said, he moved next to the door on the right, "I'm ready. But wait, what about the code for the door?"

_I didn't have time to check it, they almost found me. _John said, _There's a chance the shield control room might not need a code._

Rory frowned, "But what if it does?"

_Then you'll have one chance to get it right, if not the whole system freezes._

"Wonderful," Rory said, "Alright, I'm ready."

_Okay. Turning off the generator…now._

Rory heard the last engine falter and die, all the lights faded, and silence fell over the ship. If he hadn't known the ship was flying through space, about to wipe out three whole cities, Rory would've thought the ship was just sitting in space, not moving.

He heard the soldiers run away from the door, heading for the generator room.

_Rory! Move!_ John screamed into the com, followed immediately by gunshots.

* * *

><p>Rory opened the door and sprinted down the hall. <em>I have to find Amy. Find Amy. Have to find Amy.<em> He chanted in his head, urging his legs to move faster.

_Why do they have to make spaceships so big? _ He thought just as he ran into his wife.

"Rory?" Came her shout of surprise. He quickly held his hand over her mouth.

"We have to get to the shields, we have to get them offline," He whispered quickly.

"The powers off," Amy said as he removed his hand, "John and the Doctor turned the generator off?"

"Yes, but they're down," Rory said as he grabbed her hand. "They know where you're going, they know the path, we have to go around them and hope we get there first. Come on."

"I thought something had happened, when the communicator went down," Amy said as they ran the rest of the way.

"The Doctor had to overload some of the circuits, it sent a surge of energy, but they got him," Rory explained as best as he could between gasps for air, "Then John turned the generator off, but they found him. It's you and me now."

"Okay," Amy nodded, "This is the room." Rory pushed the button to open it. It didn't budge.

"Wonderful," Rory glared at the door as if it would open under the pressure of his gaze. "It does need a code."

"Didn't John or the Doctor tell you what it was?" Amy said, looking at it.

"No, John didn't have time to. But he said if you get it wrong once it locks, we have one chance at it," Rory said, starting to get angry. They came all this way, losing their four companions, just to be stopped by a locked door.

"Rory, try and think of anything that might have anything to do with the code," Amy said, "Like the Doctor and John were saying, Rose might have left something. It's a four number code."

Rory stuck his hands in his vest's pockets, clenching his fists, "I have no idea." He heard footsteps down the hall, "But they're going to find us soon."

"Just try to think!" Amy was starting to panic, the air was getting thinner by the second and there were soldiers running down the hall to kill them.

"I dunno!" Rory pulled his hands out of his pockets. Only then did he notice what he had closed his fist on. He opened up the crumpled paper quickly.

_3526._

"What is it?" Amy asked. "Rory?"

"It's the numbers I wrote down," Rory showed them to her. Then he thought of something, "The Doctor said it might come through in the subconscious, or something like that. That's where my idea with the numbers on your phone being a key came from. Maybe this is the number."  
>"Rory, if you're wrong, the door'll lock," Amy reminded him.<p>

"Yeah, and in a few seconds those soldiers will be here to blow our brains out," Rory replied, "We don't exactly have time to search the ship over for the code. We have to take this risk."

"Fine," Amy nodded, "Put the code in."

Rory punched in the numbers. _3526._ The door slid open. He grinned, "There! Come on, let's get those shields down."

It didn't really register until he took Amy's hand to lead her into the room that the soldiers had reached them and Amy's eyes were wide with shock.

Time seemed to slow as Rory took in the scene. Four guards, all pointing their guns at them. A loud cracking noise, it took Rory about a second to recognize it as a gunshot. Amy jolting as the bullet hit her stomach. The blood spreading, soaking into her dark shirt.

"Amy!" he screamed, as though it would keep her alive.

"Rory," She tried to keep eye contact with him, "The shields. You need to…" She coughed up blood and grabbed his arm.

"Amy… don't die," Rory stared at her, "Oh my god Amy. Please don't die." He ignored the click of the guns as the soldiers took the safeties off, ready to kill him too.

"Rory," She struggled with the word, "_Go._"

He could barely imagine it. If he went through the door and closed it, she would be on the wrong side. She would be alone.

Her eyes closed, and he finally realized she was gone.

He stood and sprinted through the door, jamming his fist on the button to close it, just as the guards opened fire.

* * *

><p>Rory quickly ran up to the small, square panel set into the wall, ignoring all the other computers and panels, just as the Doctor had said. He pulled up the shields on the screen and set them to the lowest setting possible (there wasn't an outright 'Off' button.) He tapped in the override code that he had gotten from the bridges computer. Soon the other instruments in the room were beeping at the shields being lowered. Another sound added itself to the chorus of beeps- the clang of metal on metal.<p>

Rory spun around and saw sparks shoot through the side of the door. They were breaking through.

Rory turned around to look back at the panel, trying to pretend he didn't notice the door's lock starting to break. He took a deep breath, getting ready for the inevitable. Jack was floating in space, River was dead, the Doctor and John were both dead. Amy.

Amy had died. But he would save the lives of all the people in those cities. They would live. He wouldn't.

The consoles around the room stopped beeping as the shields faded. The controls went dead and Rory turned around.

The lock on the door finally broke and a soldier came in, followed two others, raising his gun.

Rory took a deep breath and closed his eyes as the soldier pulled the trigger.

_**Okay, so that chapter was suuuper long. If you hated it, the way everyone went, then just click the next chapter button, I had that one too. Thought it would be best to put them up together. So Pleasepleaseplease review as always. Thanks.**_


	14. Just a Dream

**Chapter 14**

**Just a Dream**

Jack opened his eyes, ready to suffocate for the fiftieth time, he'd better get used to this. Except the expected vacuum wasn't there. He was in the TARDIS, lying on the floor, the glass floor above him. He saw his friends lying asleep above him. When did they all go to sleep?

He sat up and went to check on them. He didn't have to wait long for River to wake.

She took a sharp breath, sat up quickly and looked around. When she saw him she said, "Jack? What happened? I just flew an escape pod into the other ship. It exploded, I remember. Why am I here?"

"No idea," Jack shrugged, "I woke up a minute ago. Last thing I remember was being shot out an airlock with the TARDIS. You lot were all lying around so I decided to check that you all were okay."

River went to check on Amy and Rory while Jack checked on the Doctors, "Breathing. And them?" Jack nodded.

"There're just asleep," he said.

"Same with Rory and Amy," River checked again, "This is weird. I hope they don't stay like thi-"

The Doctor opened his eyes and jumped up, just to fall over again, grabbing his stomach. "Get out!" he shouted, "It's going to overload! They've shot me! I- Jack? River?" he stared at them both and then took in the three other sleeping time travelers. He then looked down at the hand covering his stomach, "What is going on? I'd been shot."

"We don't know." Jack said, "The last thing we remember is dying, then we woke up here. I woke up first then River did."

"So when we die, we wake up here," The Doctor started thinking, "You were shot into space, Jack. And then a minute later River hit the other ship. Then I got caught in the energy blast while being shot from some machinery overloading."

"So we were dreaming?" River asked.

"Maybe," The Doctor said, "I mean, it's happened before. Amy, Rory and I had a shared dream. It seems like things from my, or our past keep coming up. Bad Wolf, Jack, Rory and the TARDIS, the shared dream (thankfully no Dream Lord), and other… minor details."

"Maybe Rose is trying to help us out, but using things from your past," Jack suggested just as John jolted upright.

"Gah!" He jumped up and stared around, "Jack! River! Doctor! What's going on?"

"We're trying to figure it out," River said, "From what we've got when you die on the ship you wake up here. How'd you die?"

"Well, the Doctor blew the circuits and I turned off the generator," John tried to remember, "They found me. The soldiers found me. They shot me. I died."

"Yeah, and I was fried by the machines, remember?" The Doctor said as he went around the TARDIS console checking to see it was still alright.

"Were Amy and Rory still alive?" Jack asked.

"Yes, I think," John closed his eyes, it was like trying to remember a dream. For all he knew it probably had been a dream, "I'm not sure about Amy, but Rory was, I'm positive. They were going to shut off the shields. Or Rory was going to find Amy and then go shut off the shields."

Amy jerked awake, "Rory!"

"Amy, Amy, it's okay, you're alright," Jack hug her tightly, "You're fine."

Tears were streaming down her face, "They shot me. They were going to shoot Rory." She calmed down a little, just enough to take in the four people looking at her, "Wait… you… you're dead. You all are. Rory said you died." She pointed at John and the Doctor.

"Yes, but from what we can tell, when you die in that world, you wake up here," The Doctor said, "What happened, or what was happening when you died?"

"We," Amy choked slightly, she took breath and continued, "We'd made it to the shield room, but the soldiers found us. I was shot and they were going to shoot Rory. I told him to go into the room, I don't know if he did."

"Well, if our guess is correct," Jack said, looking over at sleeping Rory, "He's still alive."

Just as he said it, Rory opened his eyes, "Doctor?" he said as he got a good look at the man kneeling next to him, "What…. Where am I?"

"From what we can tell, the TARDIS," River said, "Did you get the shields down?"

"Um, yeah," Rory looked around, "But… I died. And so did you. Please tell me this isn't heaven."

"We aren't sure, but we think it might have been a dream," The Doctor ignored Rory's last remark, "Like the time with the Dream Lord, but this time without him."

"So you think some of that… pollen… stuff got into the TARDIS again?" Amy asked.

"Maybe," The Doctor took another look around, "But those three are still here, and the TARDIS is still the version of two melded together. Maybe it was just something similar."

"Yeah, it was."

The Doctor stood and turned around, John spun on the spot while Jack backed a few steps away. Rory moved to a sitting position on the floor, staring at the newcomer.

"Rose!" John said happily, "How did you get here?"

"I'm not here," She said with a small smile, "I'm in here," She pointed to her head, "Telepathic link, like I said. ''Cept this time I sent _you_ somewhere. That place you just were, it was my mind."

"You're minds pretty strange then," Rory said from the floor, "I mean, two big spaceships crawling with soldiers, about to crash into a planet?"

"Really?" Rose said, "I didn't get to see the dream. You lot made it."

"What do you mean, we made it?" River asked, "We found you in that cell and you told us to go to those coordinates. You sent us to the ship."

"Cell? What cell?" Rose asked, then she nodded to herself, "Oh, sorry. You never found me. You went to Stormcage, got Jack and River, and then went back to the TARDIS. After that, I let you into my mind. You just woke up."

"So everything since Stormcage was a dream?" Amy asked.

"Yep," Rose said, "I needed you to go into my mind and shut off the shield…thing. I couldn't. They wouldn't let me. So I needed you to do it for me."

"Wait, the force-field-like thing around Stormcage is you?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes, and around the place I'm being kept," Rose nodded, "They moved me back after they found out I escaped and went to Stormcage. But now that you've shut it off, you can come." She smiled.

"So the dream, that was us turning it off in your mind?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, the situation was created by all of you," Rose said.

"Oh," The Doctor said, "I get it. Rory, you said you used to be interested in Greek mythology?"

"Yeah, I did," Rory said.

"The moon was Icarus," The Doctor said, "Burned up by a horrible crash a hundred years before. Three cargo ships collided. The moon was mainly ice, so when the cargo ships exploded, it tore apart the moon, but one of the ships was carrying a sort of substance that creates heat. Icarus flooded, all the people living there either drowned or burned. Or that's what we thought."

"Like the myth." Rory said. "Icarus and his father, Daedalus. I used to like Greek mythology. Daedalus built wings out of feathers and wax, but his son, Icarus, flew too close to the sun. The wings melted and he fell into the sea."

"Exactly" The Doctor said, "The planet's name was Daedalus. The override code for the computer was Minotaur- a Greek monster. Body of a man, head of a bull. The planet and it's moon- Daedalus and his son Icarus, the Greek myth of the builder of the Labyrinth in Minoa, where the Minotaur lived. The sister ships- Scylla and Charybdis, the sister monsters. We were even in the Trireme System! Triremes were Greek vessels! That came from Rory. I'd bet if we went through every single detail from the dream… trip into Roses' mind, I don't know… Well, wherever we were we would find each of us had a connection with it."

"Maybe even Rose herself," Jack said with a grin.

"What?" Rose asked, looking confused.

"The name of that planet we found her on, in the dream," Jack said, "I just was thinking it over. Rotcodehtevoli 5- spell it backwards."

After a miniscule pause, Rose blushed slightly, "Sometimes I hate my subconscious. Well anyways, You should be able to come find me, for real this time."

"Just a question, Rose," The Doctor said, "How come so many of these things are similar to things that have happened in my, or our past?"

"Those were the times you felt in danger the most," Rose said, "I needed you to act quickly, so I came up with a way that you would' question it. It was so would you go along with it, but not alert them that you were there."

"Couldn't you have told us what was going to happen?" Amy asked.

"No, you had to believe it was real, or you would've acted differently," Rose explained.

"So where are you?" John asked, "Like you said, the shields are down, where are you?"

"I'm giving you the coordinates now," Rose said, nodding towards Rory. He had pulled out his phone, just like Amy had done in the kitchen, and was typing away furiously. "You'd better come quickly, they just realized the shields're down, they're going to block me soo-" She disappeared.

Rory looked up from his phone, "Where'd she go?"

The Doctor walked over to Rory and grabbed his phone. Once he had transferred the coordinates to the TARDIS, he looked around, "Ready?"

After they had all nodded, John and the Doctor sent the TARDIS on its way.

To Rose.

_**Yes, I took the- It was all a dream- path, but technically, in my mind just to defend it, it was- it was all a telepathic connection which made them build up a dream while actually moving around the host's mind while visualizing what taking down all the defenses would be like in the real world- it's a bit different.** **So PLEASE REVEIW! Thanks!**_


	15. The Base

**A/N- Sorry about the delay... well compared to the last chapters. I was having writers block. Also just a note, I'm easily distracted, so it might bleed into some of the conversation. Yes well... onto the story!  
><strong>

**Chapter 15**

**The Base**

_The sounds of the TARDIS dematerializing echoed through the large warehouse._

_"Sir. Sir!" Came the crackling voice of one of the security guards, "You'd better take a look at this!"_

_He stood from his chair, situated at the end of a long, metal table, gathered his robes around him and walked quickly to the security monitor, set up in an adjacent room. He swiftly logged on and took a quick look at the cameras monitoring the warehouse. He frowned._

_"Well sir, we did know they would probably be coming, as soon as we noticed the shields were down," His assistant said._

_"What about the backup shields?" He growled._

_"Wh-what?"_

_"You were responsible for getting the backup shields in place," He spun to face the assistant, "This is too soon. We knew He would come. But we are not ready yet for Him!"_

_"I-I'm sorry sir!" The assistant bowed down._

_"And that will have been your last mistake," He growled once again. "Guards! This one… he has risked the lives of all those living on this base, and he must pay for it!"_

_"Yes sir!" The two guards marched up on either side of the poor assistant, wrapped his arms in theirs, and marched him off._

_He turned once again to the monitors, "Get me Sylm!"_

_With another 'Sir!' it was done._

_"Eram! Eramerameram!" Came the quiet, whispery voice of Sylm, "Whats-what does Eram need?"_

_"Did you see the cameras?"_

_"Yes… yesyes. Sylm saw the cameras," Sylm said, wringing his hands together, "Sylm saw."_

_"Will this change anything?"_

_"No… nonono, not changing anything," Sylm once again said, glancing around him quickly._

_"Good," Eram said, "Now, I wish to see you in the Chamber in fifteen minutes."_

_"Yes Eram… yesyes. Sylm agrees, Sylm does," Sylm nodded and switched off the cameras._

_In Sylm's room, Sylm slowly went to sit on his bed, his lips curling into a small smiled._

_"They are here, they are here!" He was grinning, "Eram, Ha! Eram never suspects… never will!"_

_He opened up the file he had recorded from the security camera. The blue box, fading into existence. Almost in the blink of an eye, his demeanor changed. He sat up straight, stopped fidgeting, and grinned a wicked smile."Oh, this is perfect. Exactly as planned."_

* * *

><p>"So," Jack said, opening the TARDIS doors and walking out into the warehouse, "Where are we?"<p>

"Well, it seems to be some sort of base, from the readings we were getting," The Doctor said looking around, "There were asteroids-"

"We're on an asteroid base," Amy said, eyes wide, "Doctor, please tell me we aren't. I didn't much like my stay on the last one."

"No," The Doctor said, "We're on a base. A space ship base, like an aircraft carrier, just in space. We're in an asteroid field."

"But this looks like an old warehouse," Jack said.

"A normal… Earth… warehouse," River added, looking around, "There are holes in it everywhere, if we're in space, how come we aren't dead?"

"Good question," John said, "And I see sky out there."

Amy followed his gaze. Through a hole in the roof, she could see blue sky and clouds floating past. She took another look around, "Is it just me, or does this warehouse look like the place we found Rose? In the dream, mind thing, I mean."

"It does," John said, "Maybe that means we're in the right place. If she had a good look around here, it could possibly have come into the dream."

"Um, Doctor?" Rory asked, he had moved to the far end of the warehouse. He was standing next to a door, which he was holding open.

The Doctor walked quickly to him, "What is it Rory?"

"Well, I see a street…with cars…" Rory pointed out. "Maybe you got it wrong again."

"It wouldn't be the first time," Jack added, which earned him a glare from both John and the Doctor.

"Nonono, that's not possible," The Doctor said, thinking, "We took the scans _after_ we had landed."

"Are you sure you weren't looking at past readings, sweetie?" River asked.

"No, they were current," John said, "Hold on… maybe…" He picked up a piece of metal about the size of his fist lying near the door and threw it as hard as he could to the sky.

The sky seemed to shake as the metal connected with something in the air.

"Oh," River smiled.

"That's amazing!" Jack said.

"Will someone tell us what's so amazing?" Amy asked.

"There's a force-field around us," River explained, "Not as a shield, but as a bubble. It's keeping the air in. We _are_ on a aircraft carrier in space in an asteroid field."

"But it looks like a city…" Rory said, confused.

"Some people have strange tastes in spaceships," Jack said, glancing at the Doctor.

"Hey! It's not _my_ fault the chameleon circuit's broken!"

"Yeah… sure." Jack laughed, earning another glare.

"So, can we go look for Rose now?" John asked.

"Yes, of course," River said.

With that the group headed back into the warehouse.

They found a door at the opposite end and walked through it, finding it lead to a long, dimly light hallway. They continued walking in silence until they made it to another door, this time locked.

The Doctor quickly did a scan with his sonic screwdriver, when he finished, he looked up.

"Only one life form in there," He said, "There's body heat… but other than that, this thing can't tell what form of life." He said, holding up the screwdriver.

"Is it Rose?" John asked, trying not to look too worried.

"Not sure," The Doctor said, "But, it can't tell _what_ is in there. Look," He quickly scanned Amy and then Rory, "They show up as humans, now…" he scanned John, "Part human, part Time-Lord. And…" He scanned Jack, "It's flickering between human and unknown."

"Maybe it is Rose in there," Rory said, "I mean you said Jack was brought back to life by Rose, right? So maybe Rose is more… unknown then Jack, that's why it shows a little human for him."

"That's actually pretty smart," Amy said, surprised.

Rory raised his eyebrows, "You think I'm not smart?"

"Well, I mean, we spend all our time with an alien genius soo…" Amy decided to stop there, especially since everyone was giving her strange looks, "Well, why don't we just go in and find out?"

"There are other things my sonic screwdriver might not pick up on, species and all," The Doctor said, "It could be something much more dangerous than Rose."

"Yes, but Rose could be in danger, she's been locked in here for a year," River said, "They've been using her to shield this place, they might not need her now."

The Doctor frowned, "It's going to be a big risk."

"Like we don't face those every day," Jack said. "Let's go in."

With one last look, the Doctor opened the door.

* * *

><p>"Rose!" John ran to the cell door.<p>

"Told you it wasn't some freaky alien," Rory muttered to Amy, who rolled her eyes.

They were in a small room, split in half by the bars caging Rose in.

"Doctor!" She stood, grinning, "You found me."

"Couldn't keep us away," Jack joked. "How can we get you out of here?"

"It's a deadlock seal," Rose said, "You'll need to get the keys from them."  
>John sighed, "Rose, who's this 'them' you keep talking about?"<p>

"You'll find out soon enough," She smiled sadly.

"So you've being doing all these things, from inside there?" Jack asked, looking around the tiny room she was, from outside the bars.

"Been doing my best," Rose smiled, "I needed to get you all here, but I needed all those other things to happen, too."

"And we were in your mind, yeah?" Amy asked.

"Yes," Rose answered, "I couldn't take the shield down myself, they would know right away, but if someone were to destroy it?" She smiled, "It took them about fifteen minutes to figure out the shields were down, but that was enough time."

"So you let us into your mind," Rory asked, "To mess with it? To stop you doing something?"

"That's brilliant," River breathed.

"There's more to this," The Doctor said quietly, "Isn't there?"

Rose nodded. She took a deep breath and explained, "I won't be able to tell you every little detail, there isn't enough time but…" She stopped.

"Rose," John said, taking her hand, "What?"

"They didn't bring me here," Rose finally said, "I mean. They didn't bring me to this universe."

"How is that possible?" River asked, "If they didn't, then who did?"

"I did," Rose said.

Amy and Rory exchanged a glance, "You came here by yourself?"

"Yes."

"How?" Jack asked.

Rose took another deep breath, trying to blink back tears, "In the parallel world… I found out I was pregnant… but I also found out that-That I wasn't fully human. That's when it happened. I don't really know how to explain it but… well Bad Wolf. I found out it was still there. See, the TARDIS had put this sort of… protection in my mind. When I looked into the heart of the TARDIS, and became Bad Wolf. It wasn't just for those few moments, where I saved you," She looked at John, "The TARDIS made sure that I was protected, I was changed. She couldn't give you the same protection, but you only took the energy… the really harmful part. The TARDIS gave me enough protection so the… well Bad Wolf, would stay dormant in my mind… until I had… adapted, to it."

"So, if you knew Bad Wolf, or whatever, was… you, then how come you didn't know on the TARDIS?" Amy asked, "Or did you?"

"I didn't," Rose said, "I needed to believe it myself that I was with John and the three of you. If not, then you would find out soon enough."

"So, were you there… um, telepathically?" Rory asked.

Rose nodded.

"So, after you found out Bad Wolf wasn't gone, what happened?" Jack asked.

"Like I said," Rose replied, "The TARDIS gave me that protection. My mind had adapted enough to be able to cope with it for a few years, but I still need that tiny bit of protection. Bad Wolf was starting to burn my mind, that's how I found out. John," she was crying now, "We were dying."

John stared at her, "What do you mean?"

"We were both dying," She paused, but then continued, "In the other universe, the TARDIS can't survive on its own, and we didn't have any contact with this universe. Yeah, the TARDIS we had in that world was working fine, but it was the wrong TARDIS. We're… sort of connected to this one, the original."

"How do you mean?" Jack asked.  
>"This TARDIS was giving me the protection, I lived a few years in the other world, but came back, just in time. The TARDIS put the protections back on, and I went back to the other world, this time with John. See, when we're in the other universe, the TARDIS can't connect with us."<p>

"Us?" John asked, "Why do I need her protection?"

"You aren't stable on your own," Rose said, "You're the meta-crisis Doctor, it was never meant to happen. The TARDIS was keeping you stable, you could handle it better than Donna so the TARDIS could protect you. She couldn't protect Donna, but the Doctor did. Wiped her memory, but you couldn't have the same done to you. You were dying."

"So you risked all this, to save his life?" River asked.

"Not just his," Rose answered, "He was going to die in two years, I had only three months. I found I could use my gifts to travel here. I had to come first, John, you wouldn't have survived the trip. I had to save the baby. But they found me. They locked me up and made me be with you telepathically, half believing I was with you."

"But you found a way to save him and stop… them." The Doctor said.

Rose nodded.

"Who're _they_, Rose?" John asked, just as an alarm sounded throughout the base.

"They've found you," Rose said, "They know you're coming here. Go back. If they find you here, with me, they'll kill you. If they think you haven't gotten to me yet, you might still have a chance."

"Is that Rose, or Bad Wolf speaking?" The Doctor asked, "Tell me."

"Rose," Rose said with a small smile adding, "But with the knowledge of Bad Wolf. Good luck."

"We'll get you out of here," Amy said as they turned to leave.

"I know," Rose smiled sadly, "But there are two paths I see. It all depends on what happens next, on what the Doctor chooses."

"What are they?" Amy asked, pausing before leaving the room.

"The first one, I get out alive," Rose said, "The second- I don't."

**Thanks so much for reading, I have one more chapter partially written and I think I might finish this story in a couple chapters. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!**


	16. Explanations

**Okay, here's the next chapter... hope you like it.  
><strong>

**Chapter 16**

**Explanations**

They sprinted down the hallway, trying to make it back to the warehouse.

"Wait!" Jack yelled, everyone stopped running, "Rose said we couldn't be found near her cell."

"Which we aren't," Rory pointed out, breathing heavily.

"No, but we _are_ sprinting _away_ from the room," Jack replied, "We should be going _towards_ her cell, not

away, we're far enough away anyways."

"Good point," John said, as he turned around, "Like he said, they'll be suspicious if we're going away from her. Come on." He started walking slowly back towards Rose's cell, just as Amy caught up to them.

"What're you doing? I thought we were supposed to be going away from Rose," Amy said as she slowed down.

"Yes, but she also said we had to make it look like we hadn't seen her, running away from her wouldn't help," River explained.

"Did you close the door?" The Doctor asked.

"Um, yeah, yeah I did," Amy replied.

"What took you so long, anyways?" Jack asked as they started to slowly walk down the hallway, waiting to be caught, "You were right behind us when we left."

"Rose told me something, that's all," Amy said.

"Care to tell us?" Jack asked.

"She said I couldn't," Amy said, trying hard to figure out how to say it correctly, "She let something slip and said… she said that I couldn't tell anyone else, or it could change how things work out."

"So she told you something that is going to happen?" River asked.

"Um, no," Amy said. At their curious glances, she decided it wouldn't hurt to add, "There're two possible outcomes. If I told you them, then it might change stuff."

"And she let this slip?" Jack asked, "How do you know she didn't tell you it, and then pretend she slipped up?"

"I don't know," Amy said, "How long does it take for guards to come and catch people in this place? I'm sick of waiting."

"Same here," River said, "This is surprisingly boring, considering we might possibly be executed."

"What!" Rory spun around, "We're letting ourselves be caught so they can-"

"So we can talk to them," The Doctor said, "_Before_ they kill us. It's a lot easier than after in my experience."

Almost as soon as the words had left his mouth, the door to Rose's cell, which had now come into view again, burst open to reveal a large man, clad in all black with what seemed to be a black metal covering his face. The helmet had a Romanesque feel about it, as did the armor.

Instead of a sword, the guard had a large gun, which he pointed at the intruders.

"You are under arrest," The voice didn't come from the man, it seemed to come from all around, "You will surrender. Hold up your hands and submit to a search. If you do not comply, you will be executed."

All the time travelers held up their arms and let the guards (five more had joined the original) search them.

The guards searching Amy and Rory both moved back quickly and shook their heads. Amy guessed it meant she and Rory were clean. She wondered what they would make of the Sonic Screwdrivers.

It seemed she didn't have long to wait. The guards searching John and the Doctor pulled back quickly, holding the screwdrivers up.

"What is the purpose of this device?" The voice boomed as the first guard held up the Doctor's sonic screwdriver.

"It's a screwdriver," The Doctor said, "It's just-"

"You will cease talking," The voice said abruptly.

"That'll be pretty hard for you two," Jack joked.

"Speak only when spoken to!" The voice said loudly.

"Sorry, didn't kn-" Jack responded.

"You will cease talking!"

John raised his eyebrows, smirking at Jack.

"What is the purpose of this device?" The voice asked, as the second guard held up John's sonic screwdriver.

"Same as the last one, it's a…screwdriver," John said, "Just an older version."

"Searching is done," The voice said as the last two guards backed away from Jack and River, this time holding their guns, "You will now be executed."

"Wait! What? Why?" The Doctor shouted, "You always have a reason! Please… um, tell us our crimes!"

"You have been convicted of smuggling humans on board Mica 1, center of the Mica Fleet," The voice said loudly, "You have been convicted of smuggling an unknown on board Mica 1, center of the Mica Fleet. You have been convicted of smuggling unknown technology on board Mica 1, center of the Mica fleet. You have been convicted of smuggling weapons on board Mica 1, center of the Mica fleet. You have been convicted of smuggling an unknown form of ship onto-"

"Mica 1, Mica fleet," The Doctor interrupted, "Yeah, we know. But listen, don't you have rules about stowaways? Don't they have to be taken to the nearest highest authority?"

"No."

"So what's your rule for them then?" John asked.

"Execution."

"Blimey, what are you allowed to do around here?" John asked.

"Execute people, I guess," Jack said.

"Okay-okay!" John said, as the guards raised their weapons, obviously about to fire, "Um, the screwdrivers, their sonic… we're Time Lords, well I'm partially Time Lord, part human, the humans have… passes," he pulled out his psychic paper, which he had managed to find somewhere in the parallel world, "The ship's a TARDIS, those two, with guns, are part of the Shadow Proclamation, they are authorized to carry weapons, and we saw your ship… stuck… in this asteroid field, and thought you needed some help."

"You will be taken to the Eram," The voice said.

The guards handcuffed each of them and marched them further into the ship.

"You just told them everything," River said, "You never… well okay, _rarely_ do that."

"They're Micans." John said, "Met them in the other universe. Constantly at war with the Schist. They're very strict. If you brought a banana on board they would execute you. Well they would unless you told them what it was. Actually, to tell the truth, I'm surprised we're still alive."

"And why's that?" Rory asked.

"In the other universe they had a truth detector, a very good one," John said, "So something I said must've… alerted them." He shook his head, "Ugh."

The Doctor was acting the same way, "My head." He closed his eyes and stumbled.

He righted himself and kept walking.

"You two alright?" Jack asked he walked closer to John, steadying him, as he was about to fall. The guards had left, ordering them to walk to the end of the hall and through the only door.

"It's just… my head," John said, "Great, big headache."

"I've got one too," River said, shaking her head, "It's not so bad, but it hurts."

John stumbled again, Jack almost falling with him, due to the handcuffs.

They stopped to help him up, as the door at the end of the hall opened and a tall man walked out.

Amy did a double take. He was tall, with bright blue eyes. Bright, blue, _glowing_ eyes. His skin had a grayish tone to it and it sparkled slightly, it also seemed to peel a tiny bit.

"Ah, the Time Lords," He said with a smile, "Even without the affects of the field, I would be able to spot you anywhere."

"You're doing this?" Jacks asked as the Doctor seemed to slip into a deep sleep.

"Yes," The… man… said, "For our protection, of course. Come, come! Guards!"

"Sir?" Four guards came out of the room.

"Take these two men into the Chamber," He said.

"Sir!" They immediately set about picking up John and the Doctor and moving them into the room.

"Now, come with me," He smiled, "I would like to know your names."

"Jack, Jack Harkness," Jack said, eyeing him suspiciously, "And you are?"

"Eram," He smiled, "Leader of the Micans. Your friends haven't said their names, I would be very interested to know."

"Amy Pond," Amy said.

"Rory Williams," Rory said, and then, pointing at Amy he added, "We're married."

Eram nodded, "A sacred tradition."

River walked forward, "River Song."

Eram paused, "It is a sin to lie, River Song."

River raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

"I asked for your name," Eram said, "The name all call you, the name your parents gave you."

River frowned, "Melody Pond."

"Thank you," Eram smiled, the frowned again, "You seem weak. You show the same signs as the Time Lords, they are just not as prominent."

Amy and Rory exchanged a glance. Eram turned.

"Well, let us move to the Chamber, and discuss… matters," He lead them into the room.

"That's strange," Jack muttered.

"What is?" River asked, keeping her voice low.

"He knew you were lying, about your name," Jack said, "But I checked, that _is_ your name."

"Yes," River sighed, "But my name is also Melody. I changed it."

"So he knew that wasn't the name your parents gave you," Jack said.

"Yes, we've clarified that," River said.

"Well," Jack looked at Eram, "How come he didn't know Jack wasn't the name _my_ parents gave me?"

River looked up at him, "That _is_ strange. And earlier, they knew John was telling the truth about certain things, but from the way he made it sound would have killed us if they had picked up on the lie. They seem not to be able to pick up on certain lies. They can only tell half the time."

They walked into the Chamber. As soon as they were in, the guards took off their handcuffs. They saw John and the Doctor sitting at a long metal table. They both seemed awake, but were still wearing the handcuffs.

"Now, we talk," Eram said, waiting for them to take a seat, before sitting himself. There was another 'man' standing right behind Eram's seat. His eyes glowed a light gray and he was smaller than Eram. He was wearing robes similar to Erams, but with less decorations.

"Just a question," John cut in, "How come we," he gestured towards the Doctor and then to himself, "Have to wear these," he held up his hands, showing off the handcuffs, "While they don't?"

"Just a precaution," The sitting one said, "None of you will be able to move outside of this room without wearing the handcuffs, but even though we have guards… Time Lords can be dangerous, especially this one."

"Just as Kyrm said," Eram said, leaning forward, "And if any of you take actions to harm either Kyrm or myself, or release your… friends here, you will not be able to. I don't believe you have met Kyrm. He is my right hand man. Soon we will be joined by our prophet, Sylm."

"Psychic lock am I right?" John asked, fidgeting a little, pulling against the handcuffs.

"Yes," Kyrm said.

"A what?" Rory asked, once again confused by the aliens.

"Think of them as psychic handcuffs," The Doctor said.

"Psychic handcuffs?" Jack asked, holding back a laugh.

"You try explaining a psychic lock to two humans who haven't even heard of a psychic remote yet," The Doctor retorted.

"Right." Jack said with a grin, ignoring their captors, "It's basically a signal in your mind that stops you when you have certain thoughts. Say you want to… attack Eram, I'm guessing that's in the program, then it's going to stop you from even starting. If you try to follow through on that action it won't work. Try it."

Amy shot a questioning look at Jack, "What do you mean?"

"Either of you been wondering why River's been so quiet?" The Doctor asked.

"Um, not really," Rory said, "I actually just noticed."

River looked around the table, "Well now we've been told there's a psychic lock, I'm not even going to try." She smiled at her parent's matching confused looks, "I've been trying to get to my gun. But that would be taken as similar to trying to threaten or harm our friends here."

"Right," John cut in, getting impatient, "I'm glad you've all figured that out, now would you explain to us why we're here?"

"You're the ones who brought yourselves here," Kyrm said, almost as a question.

"Physically, yes," The Doctor said, "But we were given… directions," he said the last word slowly, trying to figure out how to keep Rose out of this.

"Ah," Eram said, "I see, so you just followed the directions. The directions that brought you straight into the middle of the Fleet of the Last of the MIcans."

"The last whats?" John asked.

"We are the last," Kyrm said.

"What?" John said, "I mean what? You lot, you all had an empire. I mean, yeah you got into a lot of wars with your neighbors, the Schist, but this fleet, you've only got five Max Size ships. You've only got, at maximum, seventy thousand MIcans."

"Yes," Eram said, "Sixty thousand of us left after the massacres on Mica. The Schist and our leaders formed a council, devoted to peace between our peoples, but then a Schist factory ship was ripped apart over a small planet. The Schist blamed us. They came in the night, tearing across the quarries and the deserts of our home world. Mica was lost… we fled. We were the only survivors."

"So, did you destroy the ship?" Jack asked.

"No!" Kyrm said, "We honored our peace. We did nothing!"

"What was the planet?" River said, looking at the Doctor.

"Sol 3."

"Sol…3," Amy said, looking at Kyrm, "What's Sol 3?"

"Earth," John said, "Earth is Sol 3."

"Yes," Eram said, "It was above Earth."

"And the… Schist," Rory said, "They didn't think the… um, Earthlings did it?"

"No," Eram laughed, "Those Humans do not have the power to even see that ship. It was not the apes."

"Was the factory in the process?" The Doctor asked quietly.

"Yes," Kyrm said.

"I'm sorry," The Doctor said.

"What? Doctor, you didn't do anything," Amy said to her friend.

"No, I did," The Doctor said, "They were going to mine your planet. They were going to tear it apart, using the rocks and minerals to build and grow their civilization. It would have killed everyone I-"

"Destroyed my race," Eram said coldly, glaring at the Doctor.

"I didn't know it would restart a war!" The Doctor said loudly, "I was protecting the Earth."

"Yes, and how many other species have heard that?" Eram asked, "How many times have you used those words to console yourself?"

"What do you-" The Doctor started, only to be cut off, once again, by Eram.

"You have destroyed so many lives," Eram started, "You have caused so much destruction. You even destroyed the whole universe! Twice!" He nearly screamed the last word.

"It wasn't me!" The Doctor said, "I don't know how it happened but… the second time, it was to reverse it. No one would have existed if I hadn't done that. Everyone would-" he froze, turning to look once more at Eram, "How did you… how did you know?"

"Wait," Rory said, almost at the same time as the Doctor, "Wasn't that all erased. How does he know?"

Eram let himself give a small smile, "Not all forgot. Now you will know why you are here."

"And why is that?" John asked.

"You have caused so much pain and suffering, Doctor," Eram said quietly, "Someone needs to stop you. That someone is going to be me and my people. Even if it kills every one of us, you will not walk away from this fleet. You will never harm anyone ever again. We will stop you."

* * *

><p>"That day," Eram said, "The day that was erased, only a few remembered, only this survived."<p>

In the center of the table an image popped up.

"Is that Stonehenge?" Jack asked.

The Doctor paled, "But that. That never happened. How did you… How?"

"Sylm _saw_, he saw this, Doctor," Eram said, "He saw this, and he saw so many other things. He told us, and we decided to act. We took the woman. We took the child. The child, she led us to this."

The image showed the Doctor, standing in the middle of Stonehenge, on one of the rocks, speaking into a communicator device.

_Hello Stonehenge!_ He said to the ships flying over head. _Who takes the Pandorica takes the universe. But bad news everyone!_

Amy stared, "That looks like Stonehenge… and those are the Romans." She glanced at the Doctor, "But that was erased."

He didn't answer, letting the recording continue

_'Cause guess who! Ha! 'Cept you lot all whizzing about, it's really very distracting. Could you all just stay still a moment. 'Cause I. AM. TALKING!_

_Now the question of the hour is- Who's got the Pandorica?_

_Answer- I do._

_Next question- Who's coming to take it from me? Come on! Look at me! No plan, no backup, no weapons worth a damn. Oh, and something else!_

_I don't have anything. To. Lose._

_So! If you're sitting up there in your silly little spaceships with your silly. Little. Guns. And you've got any plans on taking the Pandorica, tonight!_

_Just remember who's standing in your way. Remember! Every black day I ever stopped you! And then. Aaaand then! Do the smart thing._

_Let somebody else try first._

At that the recording cut out. There was silence.

"Nice speech Doc," Jack said, "But, why did this make you do all that?"

"It was a confession," Eram said.

"What?" John said, "What? A confession of what?"

"Of your actions," Eram said, "Of all you have done."

"Yes, and is it really a bad thing?" The Doctor said.

"Yes."

"And how do you figure that?" River asked, "He has stopped people like you, so many times. They were trying to change the universe, but they didn't know how. They ended up hurting more people than helping. And those were the people who actually believed they were doing the right thing."

"Which we are," Eram said, "Did you ever look back, Doctor? At all the lives you destroyed? At all the people you have killed? Or had die in your name?"

At that sentence it unearthed the memory of the Vault, and Davros.

_The Doctor's soul will be revealed_.

Rose hadn't told them everything. She had said _they_ would find out. Maybe the reason all that had happened seemed to be so similar to things in his past was because…

The Doctor looked up. "And Sylm, do you know everything he is doing?"

"Of course," Eram said.

"That's what he thought," The Doctor said, "Davros. Know him?"

"We heard legends. You committed genocide," Eram accused the Doctor.

John looked away.

"That's not the point," The Doctor said.

"Oh, but it is!" Eram said, "Here you are, trying to ignore that. You know what, Doctor? You don't just lie to your friends, and your enemies. You lie to yourself."

"Yes, well you want to know what Davros thought?" The Doctor asked, "He thought Dalek Caan was on his side, he thought he knew every…single…thing Caan had done. How do you know Sylm isn't fulfilling his own prophecy? Just like Caan!"

* * *

><p>As if on cue, a door along the left wall burst open.<p>

A tall Mican walked in. His eyes were a bright green. At first Rory thought he was short, then he realized the Mican was hunched over, twitching every so often.

"Sylm is here," Sylm said in a quiet voice which wavered every now and then, "Eram called, Sylm came."

"Ah, Sylm," Eram said, turning to look at the prophet, "Now, the Doctor would like to know. Are you fulfilling your own prophecy, going around us?"

Sylm straightened , a small, somewhat evil, small spreading over his lips. His fingers settled down and he laced his hands together.

"Right on time, Doctor," Sylm said, his voice now stronger, "I would have been surprised at how quickly you figured it out… if I hadn't already seen this."

"You knew this would happen?" Eram nearly shrieked, "You said we needed to shields! To protect us against them! We weren't-"

"Ready for them," Sylm finished, "Which is exactly why they are here. When you are at your weakest. When you needed to speak to them, to stop them from reaching their goal since they were soo near it." He looked around the table with a grin that made Amy question his sanity, "This wasn't just a trap for them, Eram."

Eram's eyes widened. "What? Sylm, you promised you would-"

"Obey you, blah blah blah," Sylm said, "I've already heard this conversation once, I don't need to hear it again. And yes, you are correct, in just a few hours, the Micans will have a new leader…Me."

"Why did you need us here?" John asked, "Why did you do this?"

"Well isn't it obvious?" Sylm said, as if addressing a six year old on how one plus one equals two.

"Um, no, it actually isn't," Rory said, speaking for the first time since entering the Chamber.

"The TARDIS!" Sylm shouted, "The TARDIS! That's what you all are here for! I don't need _you_, what made you think I need _you_. The TARDIS was the goal all along."

"Why would you want the TARDIS?" Amy asked, knowing she was probably the only one in the room, other than Rory, who didn't know the answer.

"A world where we can control death! Control all those terrible accidents! We could save all those people. If an accident happened we could go back and save them!" Sylm said, standing now, getting even more emotional, "We could even save Mica."

"It doesn't work like that!" Both John and the Doctor said.

"No, it hasn't," Sylm said with a glare to them, "The Time Lords controlled that, with all their rules. But now…" He let the sentence hang there, smiling.

"No!" Eram stood, "You said we would destroy the machine! You told me that it needed to be destroyed! No one should have the power to rewrite history!"

"Well then," Sylm said, the smile becoming even more sinister, he ended with a whisper, "I lied."

_Alright, so that chapter took forever as I wrote it, read it, thought it was crap, rewrote it, reread it, thought it was crap again, rewrote it, went away for a week, came back, reread it, thought it was crap again, then rewrote it for the millionth time, reread it, thought it was just okay. Sorry for the week wait, I was at camp... some excitement occurred... Interesting week, super tired, so I hope this chapter isn't terrible like the last five times I tried to write it. Hate writers block._

_**Again, please review! Reviews are very loved! REVIEWREVIEWREVIEW!  
><strong>_


	17. Escape

I had writer's block towards the middle of this chapter, and honestly I don't like this one that much. But ah well.

**Chapter 17**

**Escape**

Rose sat quietly on the bench that served as her bed, meditating.

At first she had felt silly, sitting cross-legged, taking slow deep breaths, her eyes closed. Now she relished these calm moments, just her and her thoughts. It helped keep Bad Wolf and Rose separate, with a definite boundary. Ironically, the way she accomplished this was lowering the barriers holding Bad Wolf at bay in her mind. She could see all of time and space, every possibility, and since her time in the parallel world- every reality, but at the moment, she was focused on a specific point in time, in a specific place, in a certain reality. Specifically, five minutes in the future, one thousand three hundred forty nine feet and three inches to her left, in the reality she was currently in.

She watched the two possibilities for what seemed like the thousandth time, which it probably was. Such a tiny thing, to cause such a tremendous reaction. Only they, Bad Wolf and Rose, would know what was the turning point. The Doctor would only be able to guess.

There were two choices coming- Amelia's and then the Doctor's.

Rose sighed and stretched her legs out, feeling them complain slightly. This made her realize that she had been meditating longer than she had thought. Seeing all of time and space at once made it harder to judge linear time in a specific place.

She looked through the bars.

Syrn was sitting just outside. He was a full Mican, not one of the hybrids of Mican and machinery, as most of the guards were. The Mican counsel believed it would be harder for her to manipulate a full Mican than a hybrid. Where they came up with that even she didn't know.

"Hello Syrn, didn't see you come in," She said quietly, so as not to startle him. He had a tendency to drift off while on duty.

"What?" He jerked slightly in his chair. So he_ had_ been asleep. She smiled. He was the closest thing to a friend she had here. He caught sight of her near the bars, "Oh, sorry, long day. This isn't even my shift."

"That's what I thought," Rose said, close to a whisper. The guards weren't supposed to talk to her, Syrn was breaking a rule, but Rose didn't want him found out.

"Yeah, well, apparently they found some intruders, and they needed extra guards for them, so they took Telm and needed me to come."

"Ah," Rose nodded, so John and them were still alive, even though she had known that was the most likely possibility she was flooded with relief at the news, "But Yrad is the next in line, what about him?"

Syrn had by now gotten used to the fact that Rose knew everyone's name, even if he was the only one she spoke to. "Well, he lives on the other side of the base and they thought it'd be easier to get me to take the spot as I was already awake. They had to get my brother, he's high up, Earth historian and all that. He's important now, cause of what happened. Apparently the intruders have something to do with Earth. They weren't too quiet when they woke Kyrm up."

Rose smiled, "So Kyrm's with the prisoners?"

"Right," Syrn said.

Rose knew everyone's name, if she wanted to. Bad Wolf gave her that ability. If she wanted to she could even learn the Doctor's name, but she hadn't felt the urge to, even though whenever she… let Bad Wolf… out, she knew she chose to forget it when she went back to seeing only linear time. She had taken to forgetting only the most important bits from when she spent time letting Bad Wolf out. She had taken the idea from Satellite Five, when she, the Doctor, and Adam had been there the first time. The information streaming through the woman's head, never to be remembered.

She had learned that memories were the strongest. That's how she communicated with the Doctor, led him to realizations, helped him along. She based it all on memories. But she couldn't just cause memories to rise in his mind, no he would just push them back down. She needed it to happen in reality, along with the memory. Then the Doctor would be able to put two and two together. Rose had learned so much when she had found out Bad Wolf was still around, she'd had to learn.

She had started the meditation technique after first learning that Bad Wolf was still part of her, and the protections of the TARDIS were weakening.

"So," Rose decided not to continue the conversation on the prisoners. Even though Syrn was breaking rules to be friendly to her (the few months she had spent here she could tell it seemed as though he couldn't _not_ be nice to people, he always cared), there were certain rules he wouldn't break, and wouldn't risk the safety of his people, even if it meant just talking to a young woman locked tightly away, "Has there been any word from possible survivors?"

When Syrn wasn't guarding her, he was part of the team working to sift through signals, searching for possible survivors from their destroyed home planet.

"No," He paused as though thinking over if he should continue or not, "But we did pick up a signal. It looks like the Schist have picked up on our position. That's why we were in this asteroid field in the first place. We're gonna try and make it to the Shadow Proclamation, seek refuge."

She already knew most of that, but she felt a slight worry at the possibility the Schist had found them.

_Why didn't I see this? This is happening too soon._

* * *

><p>"No!" Eram screamed, "You can't do this! You said we would stop him!"<p>

"Yes, and in a way we are," Sylm said, as though he were addressing a stubborn child.

"You said we would stop him! And in that we would stop the way history is altered! No one should have that power!" Eram shouted.

"No!" Sylm said fiercely, "Only those who know _how_ should have that power."

"But you don't know how!" John cut in, "You have no idea what could happen."

"And you never will!" Eram said. He was now standing, holding a glove with what seemed to be something similar to a large, metal claw where the fingers should have been.  
>"No," Sylm growled, he lunged forward and wrestled the claw out of Eram's hands. Sylm kicked Kyrm hard in the chest before the young Mican had time to respond, "<em>You<em> will never see it happen."

With that, he ripped the part of Erams robes covering his chest to reveal something similar to a large crystal in the place where a heart should have been. His glowed a bright blue, tendrils spreading out of the crystal to the rest of his body. His life force.

Sylm plunged the claw into Eram's chest and closed the glove around the crystal. The glove glowed a deep blue, long green lines, reaching from Sylm's arm, twisted among the blue.

With tremendous effort, Sylm tore his hand out of Eram, taking the crystal with it. Eram screamed, he seemed to crumble, peeling, as he fell to the ground.

Kyrm came back to consciousness, "ERAM!" He screamed, taking in his ruler's body, lying in a pile of fragments of rock. He knelt over his body.

"Well, that should keep him occupied for a while," Sylm said, giving a dark smile. Amy felt a deep hatred for him with that action, "Now. Give me the TARDIS key and we won't find out what this does to a Time Lord… or a human."

The Doctor was staring at Eram's body, while John was staring at the clawed glove.

"Fine," The confirmation came from an unexpected source- Amy.

_You need to give him time. He will help you, but he needs time._

Rose's words echoed in her mind. She hadn't known what Rose had meant at the time. But in that moment she decided to take a leap of faith. To have faith in a complete stranger who moments before had been on the enemies side.

Kyrm.

"Amy, no!" The Doctor said loudly as Amy took a key out of her pocket. She handed it to Sylm.

Rory's eyes widened just fractionally as he saw the key. He covered it by saying, "Amy, why are you doing this? We can't let him have the TARDIS."

"Well, he's doing it for a good purpose, isn't he?" Amy said, watching Kyrm out of the corner of her eye, he had stopped rocking back and forth and seemed frozen.

Oh God she hoped she wasn't wrong in this.

"He's doing this to save lives," Amy said, "It's either give him access to a way to save lives or let him kill one of us."

"Yes, but looking at those options," Jack said, Amy could tell both him and River thought she actually meant it, "Would you really want the person threatening death to have the capability of deciding who lives and dies?"

"Well, everyone else we've met who's wanted the TARDIS _did _want us all dead, no question," Rory put in, "And well, from his point of view," he said, motioning towards Sylm, "The Doctor has a ton of rules. He won't save everyone, saving a few to make him feel better."

Amy hid a tiny smile, Rory knew… at least what she was trying to do.

"Rory," The Doctor almost moaned, "You can't be fine with this."

"Well to be honest," Rory said, "You _do_ let a lot of people die for you."

"The truth, Doctor," Sylm said with a dark grin, "Do you see? Even your friends see it."

No one said anything. With that Sylm walked towards the door, walking between Kyrm and the table. "Now, I believe, is the time for me to start my work, Doctor," He said, holding up the key to show the Doctor.

At that moment, the Doctor noticed three things. Three very important things.

His handcuffs had loosened and the pressure of the… psychic handcuffs… hand been released.

Kyrm was getting to his feet slowly, advancing on Sylm, holding something in his hands.

The key Sylm was holding. The Doctor recognized it, but it wasn't the key Sylm thought it was.

It was the key to Amy and Rory's flat in Leadworth.

"Now, Sylm," The Doctor said, letting himself smile, "I think we're getting ahead of ourselves."

"What?" Sylm tried to understand the Doctor's statement. He didn't have long.

A very large, very heavy block of metal, otherwise known as the controls to the security in the Chamber, smashed into the back of Sylm's head.

As Sylm slid to the floor, Kyrm stood, frozen, staring at the prophet lying on the ground. None of the guards advanced. The Doctor guessed it was because they had just witnessed the man murder their leader and felt no loyalty to him.

"Knew you'd come around," Amy smiled at him, standing up, moving around the table to the Doctor.

He stood before she could reach him, pulling his hands apart and rubbing his wrists where the handcuffs had chaffed against them. John did the same.

The guard Amy guessed to be the leader nodded to Kyrm and led his men out of the room.

Kyrm walked over.

"We need to get out of here," he said, "I'm your only chance of getting out of here, and if we're here when he wakes, it won't be good."

"How do we know we can trust you?" Jack asked, "You were just about second in command before Eram died, Sylm might not like you too much. Yeah you saved our asses but how do we know you won't turn us in the second your own ass is safe?"

"We don't," Amy answered for the Mican, "but it's better than wandering around looking for Rose."

"But we already know where she is and where the TARDIS is," Rory said, for once not siding with Amy.

"Yes, but as soon as Sylm wakes up, the whole ships going to be after us and I know your memory's good Doctor so how about you remember that little conversation before we were captured."

"With…?" The Doctor asked, not really trusting Kyrm.

"Yes." Amy said, knowing who he meant.

Then he paled and turned to Jack, "We need Kyrm."

"Why?" Jack asked, still against the idea.

"To find… Well, to find something very precious… to John," The Doctor said. John blinked, shocked, wondering how he could have forgotten.

The others figured out what he meant and agreed to let Kyrm be their guide.

"My house, they would go there first," Kyrm said, thinking over where to go. The Doctor already had an idea.

"A main computer area… a library or something," He told Kyrm, "Has this ship got one of those?"

"Um, yes, about half a mile from here," Kyrm said, "But why do you-"

"No time to explain, just take us there," The Doctor told him.

"Alright," Kyrm agreed as he led them off further into the ship.

* * *

><p>"Are we there yet?" Jack asked, sounding like a five-year-old child. They had been jogging down seemingly random corridors for the past few minutes.<p>

"Nearly," Kyrm said, "We're taking the shortest route."

"You sure we aren't lost?" River asked, not having complete faith in their guide, "These halls all look the same."

"I'm sure," Kyrm said between gasps for breath, he wasn't used to this much running, he was a _historian_, "I come here everyday. I'm an Earth historian, with specifics in technological advances and interactions with non-humans."

"How far?" The Doctor spoke up, for once keeping his mouth shut for longer than a minute.

"Just… about…" Kyrm led them around a corner, to be faced with a pair of large, wooden doors, "Here."

They entered the room. The library had a few bookshelves, but most of the room was taken up by desks holding computers. The room had a low ceiling with something similar to florescent lights set in the ceiling. The walls were painted a light gray color.

"Here," Kyrm said as he pointed to the center of the room. A circle of desks, each holding a small screen, like a desktop, minus the fact the screens floated a few inches above the desks, took up most of the space.

"If this is a library, where are the books?" Amy asked.

"Books are too heavy, we have all our records in the computer system," Kyrm said, motioning towards the computers.

Just as the Doctor and John were about to go to the computers, a message flashed on all the screens.

It showed seven pictures, six blurry, probably taken from a security camera's memory. The pictures were of John, Jack, Rory, Amy, River and the Doctor, all cuffed and being escorted down a blank hallway. From when they were arrested. The seventh picture was clearer, it showed a Mican in dress robes standing next to another Mican in even more decorative robes. The Micans were Kyrm and Eram, with the photo focused on Kyrm.

At the sight of his picture, Kyrm held back tears, "That was from when Eram took up leadership, he let me take the secondary place, a place of honor."

"You seem to like Eram a lot," Jack stated.

"Even after what he was trying to do to you, yes, I do," Kyrm said, when he saw Jack was about to comment he hurriedly continued, "He was the one that safely guided our people from Mica. He saved us. Of course I would… like him. Even though he was going ot kill you, I can't ignore the fact that he _did_ save everyone in this fleet's lives."

"So you're just giving him the benefit of the doubt?" Jack asked.

Kyrm was about to answer when a alarm sounded. Underneath the pictures on the screens, red words appeared.

WANTED

NO PARDONS

If it had been possible for a Mican, Kyrm would have paled. However, he did start to shake. "They mean it. If they see us, we're dead, no way out. We need to get your information and Get. Out." He said forcefully.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," The Doctor said, sitting down in front of the screen closest to him, "Are these safe?"

"Should be," Kyrm nodded, trying to stay calm.

"Right," The Doctor set to work searching for information concerning Rose's child. After a few seconds, however, the screen froze. He tried to fix it with his sonic screwdriver, but nothing happened. "Deadlock seal." He growled in annoyance.

"I can get on," Kyrm said, "I'll use my brother's account, he should have the clearance for the information you need. It would be easier if I knew what you were looking for though."

"No," Jack said, "We aren't tel-"

"If it's easier, then we'll tell him," John interrupted.

"But like I said before," Jack seemed to want to argue this.

"Jack," The Doctor turned to glare at the ex-time agent, "We're just wasting time, Kyrm's just about our last hope of finding the child."

"He's right. Kyrm's in as much trouble as we are now Jack." John said.

"Fine," Jack sighed.

"Right," Kyrm said, moving to take the Doctor's place, "What do you need me to find?"

"We have to get Rose," John said, "And we have to find out if… our child survived." He nearly choked on the sentence, not wanting to think about the possibility that the child he had never met was dead.

"The prisoner's child?" Kyrm asked, logging in carefully as his brother.

"Yes," The Doctor said, "Do you know what happened to him… or her."

"The child lives," Kyrm said, "They kept him alive, he was the first human-Time Lord hybrid… that was naturally born. Why would we let him die?"

"So you experimented on my son?" John said fiercely, the already tiny amount of trust he had for the Mican was shrinking by the second.

"No," Kyrm said, he started tapping the desk nervously, "Well, yes. But no," He stopped, thinking, "Well, Eram and everyone on the council thought I was. I just did blood tests and tried my best to copy what a human doctor would do when caring for a… human child."

"So you took care of him?" Jack asked, "Why?"

"I thought it was wrong to experiment on another creature," Kyrm said, "I believe that the best way to learn about a species is through observation… not cutting them open. I just took blood tests so I could see the differences between the child and a normal human. He just has an amazing immune system… and well if we weren't in a hurry I could go on forever. In basics… the child is the best mix of Time Lord and human. I kept him in my quarters, my sister acting as a sort of mother for him, keeping him company."

"You did this all behind the council's back?" River asked, surprised.

"Yes," Kyrm said, "My family was one of the first to move from our home planet, I grew up on a planet in the solar system closest to Earth. We lived with other species. My family isn't like the rest of our species, suffering the belief that Micans are the only _real_ people. My brother, Syrn, was the guard for the prisoner… Rose I believe. We've been trying to help her and her son."

"You know what?" The Doctor said with a smile, putting his hand on the Mican's shoulder, "I like you Kyrm." He spun on the spot, "Now, let's find the best way to Rose and your son," he said with a glance towards John, "Kyrm?"

Kyrm turned back to the computer and pulled up a map of the main complex. "Now, we are here," He said, pointing to the large square labeled Library, "This is my family's housing area," a building labeled 1B-274, "And Rose, she's here, in the warehouse."

"Yeah, we know where she is, we saw her earlier," The Doctor said, "That's where we parked the TARDIS… my… space ship."

"Time And Relative Dimension In Space, yes I know, your time machine," Kyrm said with a smile, "Being an Earth historian also includes knowing much about you, Doctor. You seem to have a great liking for the planet, showing the man times you have saved it."

"Well, yeah," The Doctor grinned, "So, we go to your… house, and then get Rose, make sure Sylm is arrested for murder, and leave you to make your way to the Shadow Proclamation. We'll help you out on that bit, once we get to the TARDIS."

"Thank you," Kyrm said, greatfull, "Now, we should head out, my brother, Syrn, is guarding your friend, so it won't be hard to get her out. But his shift ends in ten minutes, so we need to hurry unless you're fine with coming up with a plan involving knocking out ten guards, hacking into seven separate security networks with no help from the inside?"

"Really? It wasn't that hard the first time we came," John said.

"Well, no, if you met with her right before you were caught, then that would have been during the reboot," Kyrm said, looking up from his seat, "We found out that the shield created by your friend was down, so we needed to put up new defenses, but that required shutting them all down for a minute. All our guards were stationed at the most crucial points on our ships, since she was not generating the shield anymore, the council thought she wouldn't need a guard. Then you showed up and they found they were wrong, they stationed my brother there in case you broke out and went looking for her. We didn't know you had seen her, all the cameras were down."

"Would your lie detector… thing… have had problems?" John asked.

"That's possible," Kyrm nodded, "But only for a few minutes, while it got used to the new security programs."

"So that explains how we got through on partial truths," John said. "Right! Allons-y!"

He moved to lead the way out of the library when Kyrm shouted, "Wait! Stop! There's a security announcement."

There was a loud beeping noise, reminiscent of a shriek, tearing through the library, so loud it seemed to come from the walls. All the computers turned on and large red letters covered all screens.

SECURITY ALERT.

MAUVE ALERT.

SECURITY ALERT.

Then the disembodied voice they had heard earlier during their arrest spoke.

"This is a security alert," It said, even louder than the shrieking sirens, "All military personnel are to report to the Headquarters of the relevant assignment."

There was a pause, and then the voice continued, "Fleet wide announcement- The high ruler- Eram is dead. Murdered by the Earth historian Kyrm with help from escaped prisoners. It is known that they have sent a signal to the main Schist fleet. All civilians are to stay indoors. Prepare for injuries and damage to housings. Schist arrival in thirteen minutes."

**I hope that chapter was okay, I'm still not too happy with it... but still.**

**PLEASE**

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	18. Choices

**Chapter 18**

**Choices**

Syrn stood slowly as the announcement rang throughout the ship.

The Schist. They'd found them.

The last of their kind. They'd be wiped out. The Schist wouldn't show any mercy.

They had learned that the hard way.

With the destruction of his home planet.

A minute later, he was still standing and Rose was watching him through the bars of her cell, concerned. The door slammed open and one of the hybrid guards rushed through.

"The prisoner is to be taken to the Protection Chamber," He said gruffly. If Syrn hadn't been in a state close to shock he would have been extremely surprised, he'd never heard a hybrid speak before. He hadn't known they were capable of such a thing.

"The prisoner is to be taken to the Protection Chamber," The hybrid repeated, breaking Syrn out of his trance.

"Y- yes. I- I will, um.. take her there," Syrn said, stuttering. The Schist had found them.

And now their only hope was this young woman.

The hybrid left. He still didn't know what to do. He knew what would happen to Rose if she entered the Protection Chamber. He didn't want it to happen, even though he had been guarding her for the past year, he had come to think of her as something close to a friend. As close as you can get when one of you is locked away with the other guarding you.

But it was Rose or his people. He already knew his choice. But maybe he could do something for her.

Yes. He could. He shoved his fear down along with his doubt and unlocked the door, not taking the care to check if Rose was holding anything or would be able to take advantage of the situation.

She didn't.

"You've got to come with me," He said, "I-" He took a deep breath, not looking her in the eye, "I'm sorry."

"I know," Rose said slowly, "I know what's gonna happen. I know what's gonna happen to me when the hook me up to that machine. But to be honest, I'm fine with that. If it means saving your people, then I'm fine with it. Personally, I think keeping your race alive is more important than me staying alive at the moment."

Syrn looked up fast enough to see a tiny smile. He knew what she was doing. She was trying to rid his conscious of guilt and, at the same time, ready herself for what was coming.

* * *

><p>"Right," The Doctor said, pacing around the computers trying to decide whether to stay and help or get Rose and then see if he could help, "Do are your shields fully functional?"<p>

"Yes," Kyrm said, he was about to continue but the Doctor go there first.

"Are your engines still working?"

"Yes."

"How far away is the Shadow Proclamation from here?" The Doctor asked, "Didn't have time to check."

"About twenty minutes to their patrol area with our engines on full," Kyrm said.

"Right, your shields, how much can they withstand?"

"We could make it to the Shadow Proclamation easily," Kyrm said.

"Alright," The Doctor nodded, then paused, "Come on! Let's go get Rose and your son, Kyrm, you can come with us if you don't think you'll be too safe. We'll just pop by the security room, the Chamber has cameras yes? Then we'll send the film to the best person, you can tell us that, they'll know Sylm was the one that killed Eram, and it'll all right itself out in the end," He stopped on his way to the door, he turned and walked up to Kyrm, " Hold on, why didn't you say anything before, about the shields?"

"The main shields…" Kyrm paused, the Doctor motioned for him to continue, "Well, they're… it's Rose."

"What do you mean 'it's Rose'?" Jack asked.

"As in, the generator for the shields, is her," Kyrm explained, "They take her and force her to create a shield strong enough to protect the whole fleet from a bombardment of the equivalent of a thousand nuclear warheads placed at one point. That covering the whole fleet… for a day."

"But that amount of energy, even for Rose, that's too much," John said.

"Yes," Kyrm took a deep breath, "It… would kill her."

"Can't you go somewhere in between?" River asked, "Make it for only half a day? Giving you enough time to get within the borders of Shadow Proclamations patrol vessels."

"No, we haven't had enough time to make that sort of precise operation," Kyrm said, "You think they would find this opportunity… to have this sort of protection with the capability of making it last, and to just use it once? They were trying to find a way, but this is too soon. It's not refined enough."

"So Rose dies," The Doctor said.

"But we could still rescue her," Rory said, "Couldn't we?"

"Yes, we could," Kyrm said, "But then that would mean the rest of my race is wiped out. Rose is our only protection. We put all our effort into building that machine, even with our shields on full we wouldn't be able to block the tiniest bullet. The missiles they would send at us… we'd be ripped apart. And even if they didn't do that, my people would be enslaved."

"Yeah, not to sound harsh, but even if you lot were enslaved, couldn't we go forward in time and get you all out?" Jack said, asking both the Doctor and Kyrm. The Doctor nodded while Kyrm shook his head.

"You are a human, you don't understand the word," Kyrm said, "To enslave on your world, it means to take someone, take away their free will, to force them to do your will. On my world, with the Schist… it means they take your Source Crystal, your heart, it's what the glove Sylm was using was for, it takes the Source Crystal away from the body without damaging the crystal." he added at the blank looks, "and use it to power their ships, and your body, they use to build their cities and ships."

"So they create their empire out of their enemies bodies?" Jack said, "I've seen a lot, but even that… why would they do that?"

"The same reason you kill deer or cows on your planet," Kyrm said, "You don't kill for the sport of it, well most of the time. You kill for a purpose, for food… energy. For the hide, to use as protection."

"So you're saying this is like someone going outside to hunt for their food?" Jack asked.

"Yes and no," Kyrm said, "It's easier. But still, they are alive, we have a possibility of growing again. If our Source Crystals remain intact and we are in contact with the correct materials, we can grow a new body."

"So again, we can come pick you lot up," Jack said, trying to ignore the fact that it would involve letting thousands of Micans be mutilated in the process.

"But the growing process involves materials found only on Mica," Kyrm explained dully, "That's the reason they destroyed it. We have no way of rebuilding our species, we sought out the Shadow Proclamation so that we could live out our lives in peace, helping others with our knowledge since we would die out soon enough. We didn't want to end with the knowledge that we were cornered and the rest of our people were being used to power our murderer's empire."

"So we can't save Rose," Jack said quietly, recognizing the truth. John, however, was more stubborn.

"But your people, they're dying, there's no way you can come back from this," He asked.

"Yes," Kyrm said.

"So-" John tried to continue but the Doctor cut him off.

"No, don't even think about doing this," He said firmly.

"It's them or Rose," John argued.

"You'd regret it," The Doctor replied, "I want to, but it would mean letting a whole race die."

"What?" Rory asked, "What's he talking about?"

"He wants to take Rose and leave them to their fate," The Doctor said, "Since they have no way of continuing their race."

"Can't there be another way," Amy said, "I dunno, maybe use something else in the machine?"

"No," Kyrm said, "It has been specifically programmed for her and the child, to make the effect last. If different pair went in, it would drain them even faster, even if they had the same qualities she does. The effect would only last a few seconds, at most, half a minute."

"'And the child?'" Jack nearly shouted, "What do you mean?"

"The child is to be used to stabilize the machine," Kyrm said, "At least, that's what they've told me."

"And it'll kill him too," River said, her voice steady.

"Yes," Kyrm said sadly, "I tried to convince them otherwise, but the link between the mother and her child is too strong to let it go, it makes the effect last even longer."

"Look I'm sorry, but I'm not having an already dead race in the place of my wife and child," John said, "I'm not."

"But we can offer so much knowledge, and we want to live out the rest of our lives in peace, not as slaves!" Kyrm argued.

"That doesn't make a difference for what you've done," John was glaring at him, "You kidnapped my wife and our child and want to use them as a human shield. You're willing to let two innocent people die."

"And you are willing to let a thousand more die in their place," Kyrm stood and walked up to John.

The two looked ready to start pulling each other's eyes out. No one said anything.

"Look, I hate to say it, but we're just wasting time here," Amy interrupted, "We need to decide, _now,_ Rose or the fleet."

* * *

><p>No one spoke for a short while, taking in her words and their meaning. After a short pause, someone broke the silence.<p>

"You know my vote," John said, looking at the Doctor.

"Rose," Jack said.

"These are the last of my people," Kyrm said, "The fleet."

"River?" The Doctor turned to look at her. She frowned.

"I'm sorry," She sighed, "The fleet. We can't let a whole species die."

Rory fidgeted, "Rose."

Amy looked around the circle. Three for Rose, two for the fleet, two more people to vote.

Then Amy understood. Rose had seen this. Amy hadn't told the others the full thing.

_What do you mean? Die? Can't you just, I don't know, keep yourself alive, run away?_ Amy had said.

_No. The Doctor has to make this choice, if he doesn't…_ Rose had trailed off, making Amy think correctly that something very bad would happen._ You'll know when the time comes. You're gonna have to make a choice. You'll know. You need to give him the choice, don't decide for yourself, it has to happen. Promise me you'll do that, give him the choice. Please._

_I promise._ Amy had whispered. She had seen how the Doctor when Rose had appeared, she could tell Rose meant a lot to him. She knew it would hurt to make the Doctor choose. If Rose lived… or Rose died. She had hoped it would be an easy choice.

Now she knew it wouldn't be.

She had to make sure the Doctor was the one to make the choice.

"The fleet," she didn't look Rory in the eye.

"You are the deciding vote, Doctor," Kyrm said, anxiously.

The Doctor was staring at what first appeared to be a blank spot of wall, until Amy realized the Doctor was staring at a small crack in the paint.

"Doctor?" Jack asked. The clock was now at less than ten minutes, and the numbers were going down quickly.

Everyone turned to look at the Time Lord.

The Doctor looked away from the wall, now staring at the clock.

"Both."

"What?" Rory said, "Doctor, we can only save one. Rose or the fleet."

"No," the Doctor looked Rory in the eye, "No. We're going to save both."

He spun around and ran in the direction of the warehouse where the TARDIS was parked.

* * *

><p>Syrn led Rose down the hallway, taking the longer, but more private way to the Protection chamber. He walked behind her, every now and then reaching out to point her in the correct direction. He knew he could just tell her, but he wasn't sure if he could actually say it.<p>

Rose had become a friend to him.

And now he was leading her to her death.

_For the good of my people_. He tried to convince himself. It only helped a little.

His brother was convicted of killing their leader. As a Mican, he should believe it, Micans don't lie, it's nearly impossible. But he still couldn't push it out of his head.

Kyrm almost worshiped Eram. He would never do anything to hurt him. Eram had met Kyrm on his first day at the academy, Kyrm had told him this story almost a hundred times. Kyrm had been lost, looking for his classroom and Eram had found him. Eram had been a teacher, specifically a teacher of alien mythology. They had put mythology in with the history, as a good portion where based on facts, the difficult part was deciphering which parts were the facts and which were embellishments to make the story a good tale to tell around the campfire.

If Syrn could remember correctly, Eram had had an intense fascination for the myths involving a great war that stretched across time. He and his colleague, Sylm, the Mican who had strong Sight, would spend hours looking over old records from thousands of different species, trying to find connections.

Eram had helped Kyrm find his class, not before he had expressed his own interest for Earth history, second only to his fascination of the myths of the war. He had told Kyrm that if he found the Earth history class particularly interesting, to find him, and they could discuss it.

Kyrm ended up loving the subject, which led to hours spent in Eram's company, learning every single fact about Earth possible. That's where Kyrm's extensive knowledge of Earth came from. Not only had he taken every single class on it, extending the normal five years at the academy to seven, he had also spent every free moment looking up stories and documents concerning the world.

When Eram had taken over as leader of the Micans, he had chosen Kyrm to be his 'right-hand-man', knowing his ability to do the best possible and more when given a task.

So why would Kyrm be a part of the group responsible for his friend's murder? Could the prisoners have threatened him? Syrn knew of only one way Kyrm would bend, it would be the Claw. But the Claw was locked up tight in a security room. Only Eram could get to it.

This didn't make sense.

Syrn had been so lost in thought he hadn't noticed they had come to another intersection. Rose waited patiently for him to tell her which way to go.

He looked around, got his bearings and proceeded to point to the right, not looking her in the eye.

She continued walking with him following.

She stopped. They had come to a door. Syrn took a deep breath, trying to stay calm, walked forward, and knocked hard on the door.

It opened to show to Mican scientists a hybrid guard and two full Mican guards, Telm and Yrad, the other two Micans assigned to guard Rose.

"Ah, thank you… Syrn," The older scientist said as the hybrid guard grabbed Rose roughly and tugged her inside the room.

Syrn nodded.

"I believe your shift has ended," The younger one said, "How about you join your family, they will need someone to comfort them, with everything going on." He said with a smirk.

Syrn knew this one, he had gone to the academy with Kyrm, they had been rivals for the top place. Syrn immediately understood that Kyrm's formal rival wasn't just talking about the Schist. He was talking about Kyrm.

"I believe I will, thank you," Syrn said, with the right amount of respect for a superior. He spun stiffly on the spot and marched away, trying to act like the scientist's words had had no effect on him.

Before he had gone more than a few steps he heard Rose say something. He stopped, looking back. The scientists had moved into the room, the door was almost closed, no one seemed to have noticed she was saying anything.

She repeated it, "Syrn?"

It was then that he realized she wasn't speaking… out loud at least. He was hearing her voice in his mind.

He nodded to show her he had heard. He didn't know why he wasn't surprised by the realization that Rose was telepathic, maybe he had guessed it or witnessed it. He wasn't sure.

_Goodbye_, She whispered in his thoughts, _I still don't blame you. You're doing what's right for your people. In exchange, do me a favor._

He nodded once more.

_Tell the Doctor it'll be alright, okay? Tell him that._

He nodded, having no idea what she meant, but still wanted to make her feel better. If he found this doctor, he would tell him. Which doctor, he didn't know.

_See you._ She whispered, he felt her smile even though, physically, she did no such thing.

He nodded once more, this time in farewell. He turned around once more and proceeded to walk, almost running, away from the Protection Chamber.

When he was a few hallways away, he slowed his pace and let himself think.

He didn't know what he was going to do. His brother was now a fugitive, they would have announced it if they had caught him, so that would mean multiple questionings, possible fines, possible imprisonment.

He just wanted to go home. Now that Rose was gone…

He didn't have a reason to stick around. They didn't need a guard for what they were going to do, there wasn't a point. Besides, his shift was even over.

He decided on that. He would go back to the cell, collect his things, return home, spend what would most likely be his last minutes as a free Mican with his family, and figure it out from there. Although the latter probably wouldn't be under his control, it would be the Schist's problem after that.

Syrn walked down the hallway, following the quickest path to Rose's former cell.

He got to the door that opened up into the warehouse where they had held parties for the guards back before Mica had been destroyed, he knew this ship by heart. He'd been here for two years, normally a young guard like him would stay on a ship for a couple months for experience before returning to Mica to attend the academy of their choice. Kyrm had chosen alien history, Syrn would have chosen alien medicines, he loved helping people. Which was why it was so hard for him to leave Rose back there.

He wondered what she had meant by "Tell the doctor it'll be alright." The doctor? Did she mean _The_ Doctor?

Syrn was halfway to the door that led to the second hall before he noticed it.

A large blue box.

Police Telephone Box written in large white letters above the door.

Okay, maybe she _did_ mean The Doctor.

Syrn walked towards it, when he was within arm's length he stretched his hand out and brushed against the side. It was real.

He remembered all the stories his brother had told him after Kyrm had decided to study Earth history in specifics. The old Time Lord, the last of his kind, protecting the humans.

He traveled with friends.

The story of how every now and then, when he showed up on Earth, two words followed him.

Bad Wolf.

Syrn froze. Why hadn't he remembered that?

Sometimes, when Rose was sleeping, she would mutter. Sometimes it was about a man named John, or a doctor(possibly The Doctor?). But every now and then he would hear her say something about a wolf. A Bad Wolf.

She was with the Doctor.

The Doctor was here.

Maybe she was the reason?

Most likely.

Syrn sprinted to Rose's cell. When he got there he pulled out the small box containing her things.

Rummaging through it, he found a small rope. She had told him once what it was.

It was a collection of memories. There were a few shells, a ring with a diamond, a few charms, and… wait.

That hadn't been there before. Syrn was sure of it as he took the key at the very end of the rope into his hands. He was positive it had never been there.

As he tried to remember he couldn't be sure. Why was his memory so fuzzy?

He wondered if…

He took off again, back to the warehouse.

He stood in front of the blue box, shaking slightly. He could be wrong. The key might not fit.

But if it did…

He put it in the lock, and turned.

The door creaked open slowly. Syrn stepped inside, just to stumble out again.

_It was bigger on the inside_.

Then the name popped into his head, again courtesy of his older brother. The TARDIS.

It was the Doctor. He was here. And he was here for Rose.

Syrn closed the door once more and tried to sort out his thoughts.

If the Doctor was here(_whichhewas_) and Rose was a friend(_ofcourseshewas, why else would she have a key to his TARDIS? She didn't seem like the type of person who would steal it_), then he was probably after Rose(_whyelsewouldhebehere?_). If he was after Rose(_whichhemostlikelywas_), then he wouldn't be happy that she was strapped up to a machine that was going to drain her dry(_whowould?_). The Doctor might be able to save the fleet(_ofcoursehe'sableto, he'sTheDoctor_), but he wouldn't help them if he found out they had just killed his friend in the effort to protect themselves(_again, who would?_), he might even want to finish off what the Schist had started(Syrn would, if he were in the Doctor's place, knowing Rose).

Going through all the stories Kyrm had told him, Syrn came to the conclusion that if there was a choice between having the Doctor protecting you or going against him to protect yourself, it was best to have the former.

Besides, Syrn liked Rose. He didn't want it to happen to her. Here was a chance. A tiny, miniscule chance. But it was still there.

Even though he didn't know the Doctor, only the stories, he hoped this would be enough to put the Doctor on their side. Especially if Rose wasn't against the Micans. Hopefully she wouldn't be after all this.

He was going to defy his orders, and his people. But he had a reason, the man could help them. But he didn't know this man, he only knew the stories of him.

Syrn took a deep breath and turned around, now facing towards the room where Rose was.

He started walking, nervously looking around, hoping to any and all gods there were that he was the only one who could hear his labored breathing and the almost deafening chimes of his Source Crystal sending the power to the rest of his body.

Taking a leap of faith, as the humans would say.

**Please review!**

**Yeah, it actually took me a while to decided whether or not to have John go all OOC, but hey, you find out your wife and kid are being used as a human shield, you're not going to be all happy with the people hiding behind said shield.**

**So, yes, Thank you for the 21 reviews(OMG 21! I'm such a happy person!), reviews are almost as good as apple crumble pie and a good Doctor Who episode(two of my favorite things.)**

**Therefore, PLEASE REVIEW! I can't live without apple crumble or Doctor Who!... or reviews... that was the point... of... that... right! I'm going to stop rambling riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiightno-**


	19. Decisions

**First of all- very sorry for the longer-than-normal wait, been having a really bad, stressful week, this chapter was partially finished so I decided to go ahead and finish it soooo here it is.**

**Chapter 19**

**Decisions**

"Doctor!" Kyrm yelled as they sprinted down the halls, "Doctor!"

The Doctor stopped suddenly, wheeling about so fast Kyrm nearly ran right into the Time Lord. "What?"

"I know a quicker way," Kyrm said.

"Which way then?" River asked.

"Um, we'd have to go outside," Kyrm said nervously, "There might be guards."

"Who cares, if it's quicker then go," Jack said.

"Alright," Kyrm led them to a door, a little more slowly this time. He opened it and they walked out on to a large street, very similar to the one outside the warehouse where the TARDIS was parked.

"The TARDIS was in a large warehouse, near Rose's cell," The Doctor said.

"That would be this way," Kyrm said. He led them down the sidewalk, trying to walk quickly, but not too fast, the guards might notice.

After a minute, they came to a very large building, "In here," Kyrm said, showing them a door, nearly hidden in the gloom of the small alley they had walked into.

They entered. Rory recognized the entrance as the one they had first tried when they had arrived on Mica 1, the ship they were currently on.

The Doctor walked swiftly over to the door that led to Rose's cell.

"No, Doctor, not that one," Kyrm said. When the Doctor spun around, his hand still on the doors handle, he explained, "She won't be in her cell, the way to the Protection Chamber is through the other door." He pointed over to the right of the large room where and identical door was.

"Right, yes, good point," The Doctor said as he met up with the group at the second door.

"It's locked," Rory said as he tried the door.

"Here," John moved next to him, placing the sonic screwdriver's tip next to where the lock should be. At a click from the door, presumably the lock, John added, "There, come on then."

He turned the handle and pushed the door opened, just to have it slam right into the face of a Mican.

Jack and River reflexively raised their weapons, which they had recovered before leaving the Chamber. For once, neither Doctor told them to put the guns down, due to what the Mican was holding.

"What are you doing with her?" John growled, taking a step forward, pointing to his wife, held tightly in the Mican's arms.

"Saving her," The Mican said, then caught a glimpse of one of the group's members, "Kyrm!"

"You know each other?" Amy asked.

"Of course," Kyrm said, "Syrn, he's my younger brother. He was Rose's guard, like I said. Like he asked, what are you doing with her?"

"Kyrm, they said you killed Eram, what happened? What's going on? The Schist, they're-" Syrn babbled.

"Syrn, calm down," Kyrm said, "Sylm did it, he killed Eram because Eram didn't want him to go through with his plan, taking the TARDIS."

"Why?" Syrn managed.

"We don't have time for this," Jack interrupted the sibling's conversation.

"He's right, give us my wife, tell us where our son is, and go do whatever you guards are supposed to be doing, other than murdering my family," John spat out.

"I'm helping you!" Syrn said, frantic with two guns pointed in his face and a very, very angry part-Time Lord, "I took her there, yeah, but then I saw the TARDIS, realized you were here, and thought it would be best for everyone to keep her alive. I didn't want her dead in the first place. Just at that time… it was between saving Rose and saving my whole race." Syrn explained as quickly as physically possible.

"I still don't trust you," John said.

"Right, now we've found Rose we need to find your son and find out how to save the Fleet," River said. Syrn placed Rose gently on the ground, his arms shaking fromthe weight of carrying her halfway across the ship, he thought it best if he didn't drop the human in front of her extremely angry husband.

"Okay, so you helped Rose," Rory spoke up, "Just a question… why exactly?"

"I knew if the Doctor was here, and Rose was his friend, he wouldn't be too happy if we used her to protect ourselves, killing her in the process," Syrn said, fidgeting knowing with every second he spent trying to convince them he was on their side the Schist were getting progressively closer and closer, ready to wipe out the last of the Micans.

"You've got that right," John said as he bent down next to his unconscious wife, "Why's she like this?"

"They sedated her, and the machine was on, only for a few seconds, but it took a little," Syrn said, "I pulled her out before it could do any lasting damage. Look I'm sorry, I know you might not trust me," John glared at him, "But can we please put this aside until after we've figured out how to save the Fleet?"

"So, you're going to help us out?" Amy asked the brothers.

"Yes," Kyrm answered for the both of them, "The Doctor is the last hope for our people now, we will help in any way we can."

"And I don't want Rose hurt any further, or anyone for that matter," Syrn added, "Even the Schist. There's been too much bloodshed."

At that the Doctor smiled at Syrn, liking what he heard. He seemed to trust Syrn, even if his copy didn't.

"So back to the TARDIS, yeah?" Amy asked.

"I'll carry her from here," Jack said as Syrn moved over to Rose. Syrn nodded and moved to stand next to his elder brother.

"We'll help you get your son back," Kyrm promised John as Jack picked up Rose.

"Well, come on then, back to the TARDIS," The Doctor said, "I'll figure it out from there, it's what I'm good at." With a grin he turned and led them back to his frankly magnificent time machine.

* * *

><p>"Jack, take her to the med-bay," The Doctor said as the group entered the TARDIS.<p>

"Where?" Jack asked, "Weird old-new TARDIS and all that."

"Umm… it should be down that corridor, left, straight, right, straight for two intersections, left, fourth door on the left," The Doctor said, "At least, that's my TARDIS, John can show you where the old one is."

"You'd think the med-bay would be closer to the front," Jack muttered as he adjusted Rose in his arms and walked down the hall, Rory followed right behind him, muttering about how he was a nurse and John was right behind. Amy followed her husband. River shot a glance at the Doctor and walked after the four other time-travelers.

The Doctor glared at him as Kyrm and his younger brother walked up to him.

"Uh, Doctor?" Syrn said, awkwardly.

"Yes?"

"We were wondering if you had a library… or a- a computer center… or something," Syrn said, "We were… um." He looked to his brother for help.

"We were going to try and look over the maps, see the ideal place to keep the other half of the machine, where the child would be kept," Kyrm took over, "Syrn didn't see him in the room with Rose."

"Right, okay, good idea," The Doctor said, "It should be near the med-bay, follow Jack and them, John or River should be able to point you to the room."

"Are you coming?" Syrn asked.

"No, I'm going to run some scans," The Doctor half-lied, "See how far the Schist are, how much time. Work on a plan. That sort of thing."

Syrn and Kyrm walked off down the hall, leaving the Doctor alone with his thoughts.

* * *

><p><em>Sylm stood, his head was aching. He ran through the last few seconds of his memory.<em>

_Kyrm._

_That traitor. He should know the rightful leader of the Micans when he saw him. Not that weak-minded fool, Eram._

_Sylm looked around, the room was empty. He felt as though he was missing something. As he moved over to the computer screen, he realized what it was._

_His Sight, it seemed he was having trouble focusing it. The only thing he could get from it was that there were many possibilities in the very near future. Three were very prominent._

_They all seemed to revolve around the Fleet, the prisoner, and the Time Lord._

_Ah, a decision. A choice between the fleet and the girl._

_He was knocked out of his musings by an loud beeping coming from the computer next to him. He looked at it._

_INCOMING CALL-HEAD OF SEARCHES_

_He opened to call and was greeted by the sight of a small Mican._

_"What is it?" Sylm said._

_"Um, sir? I need to speak to the Leader," The Mican said nervously, he recognized the prophet._

_"You are speaking to him," Sylm said crisply. Now someone outside of the prisoners and traitors knew._

_"Where is Eram?" The Mican didn't seem to believe him._

_"He didn't see what was right for our people. I did," Sylm said as an explanation. The Mican seemed to understand fully._

_"Well then sir, I am glad to welcome you as our leader," He said, "But I am sorry to start your leadership off with this news."_

_"Well then, what is it?"_

_"We've found readings corresponding to Schist vessels. They're heading straight for us," The Mican said quickly, then added, with a hint of fear in his voice, "They've found us Sir."_

_Sylm took great care to make sure his face showed the tiniest bit of fear. Make them think he didn't know about this. "Oh. Right." He took the fear away, replacing it with military discipline, "Get the Head of Communications. Inform him to release a fleet-wide notice. Inform him to release a warning. I am sending you the photos that I wish to be shown," he pulled up stills from the security camera, they showed the prisoners, he also added a photo of the Traitor from the computer's memory, "Five minutes after that I wish for him to send a fleet wide warning, informing all that the Schist have found us. Each ship should then ready for an attack, as we have rehearsed. Also, inform the Head of Protection that it is time for us to bring out our… special shield."_

_The Mican nodded, looking away from the screen as he looked at the incoming files, "Doing it now Sir." He paused, frowning, "But Sir, this picture is of the Le- the Former Leader's assistant."_

_"Yes, it is," Sylm said, "A terrible thing. He still believed that what Eram was doing was the best for our people, he, along with Eram, set the prisoners on me. But the prisoners took their chance and killed Eram right in front of me, knocking me out and running from the room. Kyrm tried to kill me, eventually getting our leader murdered. I am afraid that if it hadn't happened, I might have been forced to stop Eram myself." He pretended to show sadness at the thought._

_The Mican nodded, "I am very sorry Sir. The files have been sent, is there anything else I might do for you?"_

_"Yes," Sylm said, "You are on the Protector, yes?"_

_"Yes Sir."_

_"I would like a transport from my current ship, Mica 1, to the Protector, as fast as you can," Sylm said._

_"Of course, Sir," The Mican started._

_Sylm turned off the connection and walked out of the room, not before he had sent the story of the situation to the head of security, informing him that he had a few rogue guards, along with prisoners, on his hands. He set off to his room to get a few things before his short trip to the Protector, or, if it all went according to plan, the new Mica 1._

_They would have to change the name on the hull._

* * *

><p>"Rose is in the med-bay, Rory's looking after her," John said as he walked into the console room.<p>

The Doctor was standing in front of the view screen, not really taking it in. He was lost deep in thought.

"Doctor?" John said as he walked up to his original self. It still felt odd to call this young-looking man by his name.

The Doctor blinked and looked at John, "Shouldn't you be there? With Rose?"

"Everyone else is there, Kyrm and Syrn are looking over the maps of the ship, trying to find the place their keeping… my son," John explained, "Syrn didn't see him in the room with Rose, when he rescued her."

"But shouldn't you still be with Rose?" The Doctor said, crossing his arms, "You _are_ her husband."

"And she has four friends in there to take care of her," John said. He knew what the Doctor was doing, and he wasn't going to play along. The Doctor wanted them all distracted by something so the Time Lord could make the decision on his own.

"I think you should go to your wife," The Doctor said firmly.

"And I think I should stay here and help you decide," John came out and said it.

"No."

"Why not?" John asked, he already knew the answer, but wanted to hear the Doctor say it.

He refused to say it, "This isn't a choice you should be making. Besides, you're a bit biased, aren't you? She _is_ your wife." He glanced at John.

"Oh, so now she's just another human girl to you?" John asked.

"She's my friend, you know that," The Doctor said, not mentioning he still had feelings for her. Something that had carried over two regenerations. He wasn't sure what to say, one of those rare occasions, so he just repeated, "She's your wife."

"Yes, she is," John admitted, "But that doesn't mean I won't consider putting the Fleet in her place."

"You were pretty quick to say the exact opposite not too long ago," The Doctor pointed out.

John groaned. It was such a pain arguing with himself, even a different regeneration. The Doctor seemed to know what he was thinking and allowed himself a small smile, even given the current situation.

"Listen, I don't want you to have to make this decision on your own," John said, the Doctor frowned, "We both know it's going to be practically impossible to save both. The possibility of us saving the Fleet _and_ Rose is dwindling by the second."

"Again, she's your wife. She's just a friend I care about… very much," The Doctor said, "You would have to choose between saving your wife and saving a nearly extinct race. Either way, the decision will haunt you."

John understood what he was getting at. If he chose the Fleet, he would feel as if he had betrayed his wife, personally killing her and their son, but if he chose Rose, he would feel like he had let his emotions get the better of him, letting a race be wiped out so he could keep his family. The Doctor would be making the same choice, but he was trying to save John the pain.

"Fine," John said. He walked away from the Doctor, heading to the med-bay, intending on first popping into the computer lab to see how Kyrm and his brother were doing.

The Doctor watched him go, returning to his thoughts.

Rose or the Fleet. Rose or the Fleet. His best friend or the last of an old race. One amazing, beautiful, kind human being or thousands of Micans. The woman who was in a very strange, very complicated way, his wife or a race with no way of reviving itself after being torn to shreds.

He already knew the decision he would make. It was obvious. He just hadn't wanted John to have to share the pain. He was also trying to trick himself into thinking that he was actually thinking it through, going over every single possible reason to save either side. If John was part of the decision he would feel as though the Human/Time Lord had pulled him over to his side to easily. If he made this decision alone he would have more say in what happened.

Oh, who was he kidding, it didn't matter if he was by himself or working with ten thousand other people. The decision would be the same.

Rose.

But like John had said, the possibility of saving both Rose and the Fleet was growing smaller by the second, but it was still there. He didn't know how he would do it, but he was going to save them both.

* * *

><p>Rose was lying on a very comfortable bed. She heard a very calming sound. It reminded her of a steadily beating heart, but it seemed to be right between a sound and something being felt. Then she realized it was in her mind.<p>

She opened her eyes slowly. She caught sight of a very familiar face.

"Jack?" She smiled.

Jack Harkness had been looking over his shoulder at someone behind him, someone hidden from Rose's view by Jack. As soon as he heard Rose speak, Jack spun around, nearly falling off the small stool he was sitting on with the speed.

He steadied himself and grinned, "Feeling better Rosie?"

"Yeah, lots," She said, sitting up. As she got used to the change in position she looked at Jack again, "Hello."

"Hello."

Rose almost responded with a third 'hello', her thinking wasn't doing too well at the moment, but then remembered her first conversation with Jack.

Jack picked up on it and laughed. They both grinned at the memory of their first meeting.

"Where are we?" She asked, looking around. The room seemed only slightly familiar.

"The TARDIS med-bay," A woman's voice said.

"Really?" Rose asked, looking around once more, "Ohh, yeah, the whole… meldy… thing." She shook her head, "Mm, headache."

"Is it Bad Wolf?" Jack asked, worried.

"No," Rose leaned back against the pillow Jack had set behind her, "No, it's not Bad Wolf. Itself. Could be that whole… shield thing. Right, my brain isn't working right. Let's stick to basics- How've you been?" She switched subjects.

"Pretty good," Jack said, "Still immortal. You?"

"Oh, good, nothing much happening. Other than the obvious," She smiled then seemed to notice someone was missing, "Where's the D- John. Where's John?"

"He's coming," The woman said.

Rose looked around Jack. It took her a moment to recognize the woman with the curly hair, "Um, River… yeah?"

"Yes," River said, then looked worried, "You don't remember? You said you already knew my name."

"Yeah, but… well when they hooked me up to the machine, they forced Bad Wolf out," Rose tried to explain, "Wasn't expecting it, so it caught me by surprise. And then Syrn caught me by surprise by pulling me out. Didn't have time to sort through it all and keep certain things, forgetting others. Still not sure exactly what had, or hasn't, happened yet. Is the TARDIS in the vortex?"

"No, we're still on Mica 1, the ship," River answered.

"Oh," Rose said, then sadly said, "I know where we are now, thanks."

John walked into the room, "Rose!"

Rose smiled and went to get out of the bed but Jack put a hand on her shoulder, "You'd better stay in bed, the machine drained you."

She nodded, but extended her arms to hug John.

"You alright?" She asked, then added quietly, "Is he?"

"Yeah," John nodded, then grinned, "Glad you're alright."

"Same," Rose smiled, then she frowned, "How did I get out of that room? I don't really remember."

"Syrn got you out," John filled her in, "Um, he was-"

"My guard, yeah," Rose said, "Is he here? I want to tell him thanks."

"I tell him you said that," John said.

"No, I'll just tell him myself," Rose once again made to get out of the bed but she was stopped by Rory.

"Um, Rose? We still don't know how much that machine took from you, so I would recommend you rest some more, don't want to over-exert yourself. I'm a nurse, I'll take care of you."

"I agree," John said as Rose frowned, about to protest.

Then Rose lightened up, "So the Doctor's now travelling with a nurse." She smiled.

"Um, yeah, I guess that's true," Rory said, "Haven't really… thought about that. So listen, you should rest, I'll let John stay with you, but everyone else had better go find something else to do."

"Right," Jack said, "I'm gonna go check in on the brothers, see how they're doing."

"I'll come with you," River said.

Amy walked up to Rory, "Need any help?" He shook his head and she added, "Need anything? I can go get you a cup of tea."

"That'd be great, thanks," Rory smiled and went over to check on how Rose was doing as he hadn't had a chance to since she had woken up.

"Okay, see you in a bit," Amy said as she left the room.

"Yeah," Rory said. He let Rose and John talk for a little, let John assure Rose they were close to getting their son back, but then he had to draw a line, "Right, John, Rose had better rest now."

"Yeah, good idea," John said nodding, standing. As Rose settled herself into the bed once more, she laughed.

"I just realized, our son doesn't have a name," She said, surprised.

John looked back at her, "You don't want this to wait?"

"Ideas then," She said, "Please, just a little more time." She said to Rory, who nodded his consent, "Thank you, Nurse Rory."

"So… ideas…." John said, "Wasn't really expecting this…"

"Neither was I really," Rose laughed, "Hmm, Mickey?"

"After your ex?" John said, incredulous.

"Well, he did save our lives loads of times," Rose said, "And he wasn't _super_ mad when we broke up, we still stayed friends. He didn't really _hate_ you-"

"I stole his girlfriend," John said.

"Yeah, you sorta did," Rose laughed once more, "But anyways, I think it'd be nice to name our son after him, since he's in the other- no this… oh I don't know, our original universe."

"Okay, I'm fine with that," John smiled, glad for the distraction from the choice that had to be made, then frowned, "Hold on, since we got married your name changed to Smith. We're not having our son be 'Mickey Smith'. I know you want to name him after Mickey the Idiot, but that's a bit too close. How about Ricky? Richard, but use the nickname Ricky."

"Like Richard III," Rose smiled.

"Oh, no. Wait, I like Ricky better," John said.

"Noo, you said 'Richard'," Rose smirked, "Besides, I like Richard."

"No, you just like _the_ Richard. Richard III," John said, "Fine, we can name him that, but if he starts going around saying 'A horse! A horse! My Empire for a horse! That's when we call him something else."

"Fine," Rose said.

"Wait," Rory had overheard, "What was that about Richard III?"

"We went back in time, accidentally ran into Richard III," Rose explained, "Right before Bosworth Field. Then we saw the play. Not right after, just later."

"Okay, but isn't the line 'my _Kingdom_ for a horse'?" Rory asked.

"In your universe, yeah," John said, "In Pete's World, that's what we call it, it was the British Empire, and he was Emperor Richard III."

"Riiiight," Rory said as Amy returned with the tea. John turned back to Rose.

"Okay, so since you got your choice of name," John said, "My turn. Since you named him after our old friend, I have the perfect middle name for him."

"Really? I thought, you being you, would come up with a name and argue until it was his first," Rose smiled.

"Nah, the name… it's Wilfred," John said.

"Wilfred." Rose said, staring at him, "Wilfred?"

"I had a very good friend, name of Wilfred. Well, Wilfred Mott. Well, Wilf. But still," John looked down at his hands, "Thought it'd be a good middle name. Good man."

"Wilfred? Who was that?" Rose asked, "Don't recognize the name."

"No, it was after you were… gone," John looked down at his hands clasped around her's, "He was Donna's grandfather. He also… well he was there when well, the Doctor, the full Time Lord Doctor with this body… died. Not there for the regeneration, but there for everything else. He's a good man."

"How do you know?" Rose asked, "About the other you's regeneration?"

"Seems like being in the same universe is bringing our minds sort of together, we both have some new memories. I remember being in Venice with Rory and Amy, there were Vampires," He grinned, "Imagine that, we met a werewolf, they met vampires… in Venice! And he remembers our wedding… everything since he left us in the other world."

"Weird," Rose said.

"We think the TARDIS might have something to do with it," John said, then remembered what they had been talking about, "So, Wilfred?"

Rose had noticed John's change in demeanor before changing to the memories being shared, "Okay, Wilfred. Richard Wilfred Smith. Interesting name, I like it," She smiled, then yawned, "Right, I think I am going to take Nurse Rory here's advice and rest." She kissed her husband's forehead, knowing what was going on, "Good luck."

* * *

><p>How could he save both? There must be a way.<p>

He was the _Doctor_. He should be able to do this!

He could save Rose and the Micans. But how? They needed Rose to protect them, but she would die in the process. The Extrapalator wouldn't be able to cover the whole fleet, only the TARDIS. The Fleet's shields were down, they mixed up the 'Rose Shield'.

He looked at the screen. The Schist were nearly five minutes away.

The Doctor kicked the console, frustrated.

He couldn't do this. He sank down onto the floor.

He couldn't choose.

At that realization, memories flooded through his mind.

_'Run.'_

_ Sunfilter_

_Descending _

_ Sunfilter_

_ Descending_

_ An unconscious Rose thrown in a hearse, speedingaway_

_ The choice- the world being blown apart by nuclear missiles, or Her, killed by a missile directly targeted on 10 Downing Street_

_ The door closing, hearing the shot caused by a Dalek's laser_

_ The Jagrafess_

_ The Reapers_

_A dark alley. Gone, where was She? Missing. A strange child, wandering the streets. Where was She? Thechildafterthem, cornering them_

_ Margaret, a claw wrapped around Her neck. Almost about to snapHerneck_

_ The Gamestation. The Eviction. The Daleks. The Delta wave. _

_Not ready. _

_The Time Vortex_

_ The Sycorax_

_ Cassandra_

_ She wasn't at dinner. Wasn'tinhouse. The werewolf_

_ The Krillitanes_

_ Rose andmickey strapped down. Saws. The saws ready to be used_

_ His old enemies. Theywerecaptured. She could have been converted, Her 'mother' had been_

_ Stuck on asteroid. NoTARDIS_

_ Another choice. Letting Him go free, to wreak havoc across the universe, or losing Her_

_CybermenDaleksTorchwood JackieRoseMickeyPeteJake Holes_

_CanaryWharf_

_ThesolutionSentaway BeachSupernova Badwolfbay_

_ Losingagain_

_Gone_

_BADWOLFBack!_

_DaleksRoseShotDyingRegenerate_

_Hand_

_CapturedDuplicate_

_Losingheragain._

_ The danger, constant danger_

_What if lost Her?_

He remembered looking at the crack, back in the library, trying to decided whether to let a whole race die, or lose Rose. It had looked like The Crack, not exact, but similar. The Crack from Amy's bedroom, time being rewritten. There weren't always to specific choices, even if you were given two. There might always be a third, hidden choice.

The Doctor's eyes flew open. He knew how to save everyone.

He turned and sprinted to the infirmary, screaming as he went.

"JACK!"

**SOooooooo, watcha think? Just thought that last bit, he's thinking really fast, memories popping in and out, it'd be a bit messy... sooo. I tried to put in all the episodes with Rose, but didn't put in the Clom one or the ... I'm sorry, I should know the name, um, again not much sleep as it's a very bad week. Fear Her and the LINDA one(that's the Clom one). Hope you like it, :).**

**Please REVIEW! The couple I got this week made me feel lots better *hint hint*, so thank you once more for reading.**

**Also a small little note, school starts soon(one of the many reasons for the bad week, stupid schedules *shakes fist*) so updating might be slower if I don't finish by then.  
><strong>


	20. The Plan

**Chapter 20**

**The Plan**

"Will you do it?" The Doctor asked, rubbing his hands together nervously.

"Of course I will," Jack answered, "The better question is… will it work?"

"I'm not sure," The Doctor admitted, "Last time-"

"Last time, Rose disintegrated an entire Dalek fleet, brought me back to life, and nearly burned up in the process," Jack said, "Anyways, she can't remember last time, so we don't really have the whole experience benefit."

"Well hopefully the machine just takes the power and converts it into the shield, you won't have to do anything," The Doctor said.

"Except get all the life sucked out of me," Jack added.

"Well that too," The Doctor said as their friends walked in, Rose was with them. "Rose, you're supposed to be in bed," The Doctor admonished Rose, "Why are you up and about?"

"I want to help," She said, "I won't do any running or anything like that, I can stay here. I just wanna do something to help. Been stuck in that cell the past year, I want to do something, especially if it involves saving all the Micans."

The Doctor sighed, "Fine, if Rory says it's okay," Rory shrugged.

"As long as she doesn't do any physically strenuous stuff. Also, whoever stays here with her, which someone should, they need to make sure she doesn't get too stressed," Rory told them all.

"Right, so then Rose, Jack and I had a question for you," The Doctor said, "It's about our plan." He looked over at Jack, silently asking for him to take over.

"We were wondering…" Jack started, "The TARDIS, when you looked into its heart, what happened?"

"I've told you, I don't remember," Rose said.

"Yeah, but did the TARDIS choose what…gifts you got, or did that happen automatically," The Doctor asked.

"It just sorta… happened," Rose said, trying hard to remember, "I dunno. What's this about? That machine just takes the power and converts it. The little it started to take, it just converted it into an energy it could use, I didn't have to do anything."

"Alright, there Jack, that's your answer," The Doctor said.

"Why did you want to know?" Rose asked, curious.

"Um, no reason," The Doctor lied, not looking anyone in the eye.

"Doctor…" River said with a frown, "You aren't thinking of copying Rose and looking into the heart of the TARDIS and then hooking _yourself_ up to the machine?" They had all been told Rose's story.

"No. Nonono," The Doctor laughed, "Why would I do that? No, _Jack's_ going to do that."

"What?" John asked, "But Rose barely survived last time. It killed us!"

"Yeah, but Jack can't die," The Doctor said, "Well, from what I can tell, the machine will drain him of the power, drain his body, but it won't be able to drain his immortality."

"But they're the same thing," Rose said, worried, "Bad Wolf made Jack immortal with the same power that machine uses as a shield."

"Yes, meaning it won't have to convert the energy made by all his cells, it'll just take the energy, it'll be slower and more efficient, giving us approximately thirty minutes of shielding if my calculations are correct," The Doctor said.

"Thirty minutes? But Rose could power it for a day," Amy said.

"Yeah, but the machine was made for her, and I think she's spent so much time with Bad Wolf in her it's gotten stronger and better. Like wine," He made a face, "Except not like wine. And I think the TARDIS' protections add to it."

"Will the TARDIS be able to do the same for me Rose?" Jack asked.

"I don't think so," Rose said, "I'm not sure, but I think she used up most of that on John and me. There'll be enough to keep you stable enough, and…hold on…" Rose paused, as if listening to something, "She said she'll pull the power out of you as soon as you die the first time, or else it'll drain everything out of you and you _will_ die. For real. And the machine'll start pulling energy from everything it can get. After that point it'll do more damage than good."

"We thought I pulled it out of you last time," John said, "How do we know it'll completely leave this time?"

"It's more of you can't take it fully away, there's always that little bit that stays behind," Rose said, "The TARDIS says it'll all leave, because Jack already has a little in him, from me. The bit that makes him immortal. It should be fine."

"So we have that thirty minutes only," Jack said. "Okay, you said it would take twenty minutes to get to the Shadow Proclamation." Kyrm nodded, "We can make it," Jack grinned, "So, we gonna go?"

"Yes, in a second, but first," The Doctor turned to the Mican brothers, "Did you find anything?"

"We're not sure, but we suspect the place the child is being held is in the room next to where Rose was," Kyrm said. "It is the safest, most practical place."

"Right, that makes this much easier," The Doctor clapped his hands together, "Let's go!"

"Um, Doctor?" Amy asked, "Look, I realize Jack can't die, but if the energy stuff the shield needs is from the TARDIS, why can't you just plug the TARDIS in?"

"That wouldn't end too well Amy," The Doctor said, then rubbed his forehead, trying to figure out how exactly to explain it, "Remember Craig? And his flat? And the mediocre attempt at a TARDIS above him?"

"Yeah."

"Remember how it needed a pilot? The proper one?" The Doctor asked, at her nod he continued, "Well it's similar to how it found me, but I would be too much for it."

"So that's why?"

"Well, no not really," The Doctor tried another explanation, "You know corn bread?"

"Corn bread." Amy repeated, raising an eyebrow, "What does corn bread have to do with this?"

"Well when you make corn bread, when you put the cornmeal in the water, you want to put it in in little bits, not all at once or it congeals and you get big blobs of stuff." The Doctor said, "And we don't want blobs do we?"

"So you're saying the shield'll get big blobs of cornmeal if the TARDIS is plugged in?" Amy said.

"Sort of."

"So it won't work right, because the energy comes in too fast?" Amy said, thinking she understood it.

"Well, yes… no," The Doctor said, "Right, forget the whole corn bread thing, it's nothing like cornbread."

"Right, great waste of a minute there," Rory said, "You could have just said the TARDIS wouldn't work."

"Yes, I could have, and as you pointed out, we are running out of time," The Doctor said, "We need to go now. We need to open the heart, get Jack ready for the machine and who's going to stay with Rose?"

"I will," River volunteered.

"Thought you'd want to be out there," The Doctor said.

"Yes, well, just being helpful," River said, "So what do we need to do with Jack?"

"We need to open the console, right here," The Doctor found the switch, "Jack, stand there. Alright, no one else look there, or else it'll be very bad. Don't want seven Bad-Wolf-Like people wandering around."

"Right, let's do this," John said. The Doctor pulled the console open and light flooded out. Rose, Jack, John and the Doctor all recognized it. It triggered the memory of an old, darker TARDIS, with a younger, darker Doctor. Tormented by the death of his race and the Time War. That darkness hadn't gone away, it was just pushed into the back of his mind, down with the memories of that War and all the deaths of his friends.

_Margaret standing on the other side of the console, her claw wrapped around Rose's delicate neck, ready to snap it, pulling the life out of the young human. The Slitheen staring into the light, it illuminated her face, making her eyes seem to glow. Except it wasn't the Slitheen. _It was Jack with the light shining on his face. The light reached out to him.

The sight unearthed an old, buried memory, faded like an old photograph found in the dusty corner of an old attic.

_The fear, the pain. She needed to save Her Doctor. He was in danger. He was dying. She didn't deserve to be safe when he was so far away in so much danger. She needed to save him, she knew how. The console torn open by the yellow truck. The light. Time._

The memory faded just as quickly as it had come into being. To protect her, Rose realized.

After what seemed to be hours, but was really only a few seconds, the light faded and Jack fell to the ground.

"Jack!" Rose yelled, running over to him.

He groaned and then moved to a kneeling position. He gasped and grabbed her shoulders.

"Holy shit," He said, "Ow."

"He doesn't have the protections," Rose explained, "We need- you need to get him to the machine right now."

"Right, come on," John said as he helped Jack into a standing position.

"It'd be quickest to take the TARDIS," the Doctor said, he set the time machine in motion, spinning around the console as their guest jumped out of his way. John joined him.

"I thought you couldn't use the TARDIS, being part of…events or something like that," Amy said.

"As a time machine," The Doctor grinned, "We're just using her as a regular space ship at the moment."

The whole room shook as they landed.

"Right, let's go," The Doctor led them out of the console room and into the hallway.

"Okay, he should be in here," Syrn said, pointing to a door a few feet farther down the hall, "And that's the Protection Chamber right there," he pointed to the door directly in front of them.

"I'll get Jack set up in here, you go get your son," The Doctor said to John.

John nodded and walked over to the door.

"Wait," Syrn said, "There're two guards in there. And the scientist."

"So how do we get in?" John asked.

"I don't know," Syrn admitted with a shrug, "I was hoping you would know."

John frowned and turned back to the TARDIS, "We need to figure this out."

They re-entered the time machine, much to the surprise of River and Rose.

"I thought you two were going to get your son," River said.

"Ricky," Rose said.

"Right, I thought you were getting Ricky," River said once more, fixing her mistake, "Rory, Amy and Kyrm are helping the Doctor and Jack. We're just scanning the Schist ships."

"Rose, I had a question," John said.

"Yeah?"

"How come we keep forgetting about Ricky," John asked, "I mean not really, just it takes a little reminder to remember he's here."

"I tried to put something similar to a perception filter on him," Rose admitted, "When we were first caught. It didn't really work too well. If you don't constantly think about him, you forget about him, at least it's harder to remember him."

"Interesting," River said, "That… Bad Wolf?"

"Yeah," Rose said, "I'll try and take it off him. I'm just not too sure how I did it in the first place. Sort of panicking at the time."

"Don't take it off just yet," John smiled, he then turned to Syrn, "I think I just figured out how to get Ricky back."

* * *

><p>Esym shuffled around the small room, taking care not to knock the wires connect the small, human child to the machine.<p>

He had been here too long to feel sorry for the child. He would have felt guilty if the whole Fleet's survival didn't rest on this small child's eventual, if immoral, death.

_At least he will die without the knowledge of what we are doing to him._ He thought feebly.

He went through all the instruments. All ready.

He flipped the switch, turning his portion on and moving the power of control into the next room, where the main machine was. All they had to do was flip the switch in the other room and it would take it from there.

He heard a knock at the door. "What in the world?" He turned around, motioning for one of his guards to take out his weapon, "It's open."

The door slid open revealing a young Mican guard. He still had the red ribbon on his bicep marking him as a training guard, he hadn't been to an Academy yet. Poor boy. Now he never would.

"Yes, what do you want?" Esym asked, "I'm a bit busy." All that paperwork and samples to go through. _Samples of what?_ He mentally sighed. _Oh yes, the boy._

Even after a month of this, he still wasn't used to having to forcefully remember something.

"I, um, I was sent by… Sylm," The boy stuttered, took a deep breath and continued, "He requests your presence, something about some research you did back on Mica."

_The research! They actually looked at it!_ Esym hid his grin, then stopped. _Now why would they do that?_ He felt the suspicion rising. There was some reason why he shouldn't leave the lab but…

"He wanted to talk to you about your papers, sir," the guard said, just before the scientist could remember, "And he also wanted me to relieve your guards."

"Right, yes fine," Esym said, the suspicion fully gone now, replaced by curiosity. He wondered what Sylm had found so interesting. He had just recently taken the place as Leader. "Don't touch anything, boy."

"Yes sir, of course," The boy saluted and walked inside.

"Right… let me see, papers," Esym said, looking around the room.

"Here," The boy grabbed a folder and handed it to Esym before the scientist could look fully around him.

"Thank you," The scientist, not in the least sincere, "Guards, you are relieved, come."

He walked out of the door, still with the nagging suspicion he was forgetting something. Damn age.

* * *

><p>Syrn waited until Esym was out of sight and walked over to the small table with the baby boy on it. He lifted the child gently and pulled the wires out of his arms. He turned and walked to the door.<p>

John was standing right inside.

"Here, he's fine, just sedated, like Rose," Syrn said, "Not as much though, he should come 'round in about twenty minutes."

"Thank you," John said as he took the baby into his arms, he smiled gently. He looked up, "He seemed a bit out of it."

"Yeah, we've noticed the past couple of weeks the scientists working in this area seem to be like that more and more, I guess it's him now that we know what Rose did," Syrn said nodding toward baby Ricky, snug in his father's arms.

"Thank you," John repeated, now smiling broadly, looking at his son, "I'm going to go see if Rose is okay."

With that he left and wandered into the TARDIS.

Syrn let him. He had a decision to make.

They couldn't use the kid, he knew that, and it would kill anyone else, even with the shorter time. No one else would work in the machine as it had been made for Rose and her son. They could power it, but anyone who wasn't the mother or son would die in a much shorter time. A human or Time Lord would last only about three minutes max, he had learned all this from Kyrm when the scientists were first building the machine. Everyone in the group would die in that amount of time, three minutes.

But not a Mican.

The Source Crystal would be able to be used as a battery, with a longer life than any human. All the power was in the Crystal, if he cut off the energy being sent to the rest of his body, and focused it into one place, it would be able to stabilize the machine for at most half an hour. Once he was hooked up, however, the power would be taken instantly, no way of reversal, he would be dead as soon as the machine was fired up.

But if it saved his people…

The question was, how would he isolate his Source Crystal in a way that the machine could take it.

He felt the answer pulling his armor down slightly on the left side. Hidden in the folds of the cloth was the Glove.

The one used on Eram.

Syrn had taken it from Kyrm when they first went on the TARDIS. Kyrm had said he had taken it just before leaving the Chamber, so Sylm couldn't use it on anyone else. Syrn knew there were other motives, but he wouldn't think of his brother in that way.

He pulled the Glove out and proceeded to work out how exactly to do this.

* * *

><p>"Jack's all set," The Doctor said as John stepped out of the TARDIS.<p>

"Rose has Ricky," John smiled, "He's fine, just asleep."

"We have a problem," The Doctor said quietly to John, so the Ponds wouldn't overhear.

"What is it?"

"The stabilizer… it was Ricky, we can't let the machine use him. It would drain him dry in an instant since his mother isn't hooked up on the other end," The Doctor said.

"You already knew about this, didn't you?" John asked.

The Doctor nodded.

"I don't want you to do this," John told him.

"It's not about what we want," The Doctor said, "Do you think I _want_ to do this? I don't want to regenerate. I'm not even sure I'll be able to anyways."

John frowned, "Fine."

"Don't tell the others," The Doctor said, "Let it happen first. I don't want any of them trying to take my place."

John understood exactly why the Doctor wished that and agreed.

"Right," The Doctor said, turning to the second door, "I'm ready."

They walked over to the door, Syrn was still inside.

"What's wrong?" He asked, seeing the look John's face.

"Oh nothing," The Doctor lied, it was obvious. It was also obvious he was very nervous.

"You're going to hook yourself up aren't you?" Syrn guessed.

"Yes," The Doctor admitted. "There's no other way."

"Yes there is," Syrn said.

"And what's that?" The Doctor asked. Only then did he noticed the Glove, clutched in Syrn's shaking hands. He tried to move into the room but Syrn was too quick.

"Me," Syrn punched the door controls, shutting him off from the Time Lords.

* * *

><p>Syrn smashed his fist into the door controls. The door slid closed, blocking his view of the Doctor. He quickly engaged the deadlock and all others on the door.<p>

No one would be able to get in unless they had the codes.

Which could only be accessed in the Chamber. By the Leader.

Syrn took a deep breath, now knowing what he had to do.

He unbuttoned his shirt, showing the glowing, emerald-like crystal that gave power to his body. He took another calming breath. This was going to hurt.

With that, he did his best to arrange the clawed fingers of the glove around his Source Crystal. When they were in place, he pulled his arms tight around his body, pushing it in.

The glove was connected to the instruments. He flipped the switch, giving control over to the Doctor.

At the moment, his Source Crystal was using too much energy powering his body. We couldn't have that, now could we. He gasped for breath, his last thought was of his family and how they would live because of his sacrifice.

He pulled the glove out of his chest, his Source Crystal still clamped in it's cold, metal claws.

* * *

><p>The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver out, pushing it against the lock. He heard metal scraping metal, and a clank. "He put the deadlock in place." The Doctor didn't stop trying, "No. Nononono!"<p>

He hit his hand against the door. "I can't get in."

John stood staring at the door, "He sacrificed himself."

"He didn't have to do that," The Doctor said.

"You would've gone in his place," John said.

"Yes, I would've," The Doctor said, "He didn't… he didn't have to-"

"No, neither did you," John said, trying to calm the Time Lord. They still needed him, "But you do have something else to do. We need to get the shields up."

"Right, fine," The Doctor said, backing away from the door, just as Kyrm walked out of the TARDIS.

"Doctor, what's wrong?"

"It's Syrn," John explained.

"What about him?" Kyrm asked, growing worried. He spotted the closed door, "Is he in there? Is he… oh Mica no."

"He took Ricky's place," John said.

"Of course he would," Kyrm said weakly, he didn't know what to do, so he just stood there.

"The Doctor… he was going to do it," John said, the Doctor had gone into the Protection Chamber.

"It wouldn't have worked," Kyrm said, becoming the knowledgeable scholar they had first met, "It would have, but for only three minutes, at most. The only human… or non-Mican, who could be in that place for longer than that is your son, Ricky, as the machine was made specifically for him and Rose. Although, if Ricky was in…his place…right now, with Jack hooked up, Ricky would die right away. The shields wouldn't even be formed."

"So it's better with Syrn?" John asked after a pause, he didn't really want to ask it.

"Yes, his Source Crystal carries much more energy than a human body," Kyrm said, "But this will drain every last drop at the very beginning, so he won't survive."

"I'm sorry," John said, "There should be something better to say… but he is saving our lives."

"Yes, and all those in the Fleet," Kyrm said, he was now on the brink of tears, the Mican equivalent of tears, that is. "He always was too kind for his own good. If anyone was in danger of being hurt, he would put himself in their place without hesitation."

John stayed silent as Kyrm went over to the door, sitting by it. The part Time Lord went into the Protection Chamber.

"Syrn's passed us control," The Doctor said quietly, knowing what it meant. Syrn was too far past to be saved.

"So it's all ready?" John asked, looking over the instruments.

"Not exactly," The Doctor was pretending to be his normal, energetic self, but John saw right through it. He was doing exactly the same thing, "Jack's all hooked up, as is Syrn, but the computer won't start, as it recognizes that neither of them are Rose or Ricky."

"What type of computer is that?" John asked, sitting next to the terminal, "Ah, not too bad," He said, looking over the programs, "Ah, this'll be easy. Just give me a minute, I'll convince it that Rose has turned into a seven thousand plus year old man. Hmm, Jack's getting on a bit, isn't he? You know, I was wondering how old he was… it being the fifty-first century and all. He's looking very good for being nearly eight times older than us, nearly four if you combine us, if you count my memories as years. So if you don't', that would actually be back to eight, as I'm only a couple years old. Imagine that, I'm only four years old, and my son's one. That'd be interesting at school, 'yes hello, I'm Ricky's father, he's only three years younger than I am.' Imagine the press." He at first tried to ramble, then got caught up in it. Anything to distract him from what was happening. As always.

The Doctor turned to him, "Right, that's working. All we need to do is flip the switch. We just need to know when. Ah, Amy! How's it back in the TARDIS?" He frowned when he got sight of Amy, bent over, clutching her knees, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"It's the Schist," Amy panted, having sprinted from the TARDIS' computer room, "They're here."

With that, the Doctor shot one last look at the wall shared with the second room, sadly thanking Syrn silently, and flipped the switch.

***Raises hands in front of face* Don't kill me! If you liked Syrn (I did, event though he was relatively new), I'm sorry! I sort of wrote myself into a corner where it was "Who dies?" Cos, someone had to, Ricky or Syrn. :( Sadly it was Syrn.**

**Yes, well minus that bit, :(, *Stares at chapter number*, 20 chapters! I think that warrants some reviews, don't you? *Wink wink, nudge nudge* Thanks for reading, I think it'll only have a couple more chapters, at most three, and then some sort of epilogue. So once again, thanks, and PLEASE REVIEW!**


	21. The Schist

**Chapter 21**

**The Schist**

The Doctor sprinted into the TARDIS console room. "River! What's it saying?"

"Um, the Schist are here, they're on the opposite side of the Fleet, there's about-"

"I don't mean the Schist, I mean the shields!" The Doctor cut her off, dodging around her to pull a lever.

"You got them running? I thought you needed someone in the stabilizing unit," River said.

"River, not now," The Doctor glared at her.

"Where's Syrn?" Rose asked. Everyone, except Jack and Syrn, was on the TARDIS.

"Again, not now," The Doctor said, River and Rose exchanged a glance. They both understood that there was now one less guard returning home that night, "We need to see how the shields are doing, and somehow get a message to the Fleet to start moving towards the Shadow Proclamation."

"How are they?" John asked River.

"Well, they're strong. Very strong," River said, "Not as strong as Kyrm described, but that's too be expected since Rose isn't the one in the machine."

"Right, okay, good," John said, "Let's figure out that message, they'll be a bit suspicious since it won't be from a Mican ship, but we don't have time to go to Mica 1's controls, the TARDIS'll have to do."

"Doctor?" River asked. The two Doctors ignored her for the moment, intent on their task.

"Here, I can give you the codes showing it's a Leader Authorized order," Kyrm said, "They won't have had time to change the codes, and Eram gave me the codes so he wouldn't have to spend the time to punch in every order personally."

"Right, very good!" John grinned, "Here, just put them in right there," he pointed to the typewriter embedded in the console. If Kyrm found it in any way strange, he didn't show it.

"Doctor." River said once again, louder, and once again they both ignored her.

"I just put the codes on the message," Kyrm said, taking his hands of the typewriter and turning to John, "You should be able to send the message whenever."

"Right! Send it!" John called as he and the Doctor danced around the console, "Just need to stabilize the machine, and that should do it." He stepped away from the console and turned to grin at Rose, "Extended the Extrapalator's shielding over the Protection Chamber, shielding Jack, and from there the machine should do its work."

"Doctor!" River was shouting.

"Oh, what is it?" The Doctor stopped next to her, giving her a glare.

"When I said the shields were operational and working well, I didn't say how far they covered," River said.

"Aaaand?" The Doctor asked, afraid of her answer.

She turned to him and quietly said, "The shields only cover half the Fleet. Our half. The Schist are nearest the unshielded portion of the Fleet. They'll still be torn to shreds."

The Doctor froze, "Can we do anything? Boost the signal? I dunno, maybe… extend the Extrapolator over the ship and move the ship into the center of the Fleet, get all the other ships close together around it?" He tried thinking of more options.

"We don't have enough time," River said, "The only thing we can hope for is the fact that of the five ships still out there, three are military ships."

"Right yes, good, they'll be able to defend themselves… but not for long," The Doctor said, "That metal on your hulls, Kyrm, I'm guessing it won't hold of too much."

"No," Kyrm said, "The civilian ship won't last five minutes. They'll be moving the civilians on to the military ships."

"You move the civilians off of the civilian ships and into the military ships. The targets." Rory said in disbelief.

"The military ships are equipped for combat and have better shielding, anyways, the civilian ships are the targets in this war," Kyrm said, "The war went from a border dispute to an all out slavery war. Each side tries to capture as many civilians from the other side and use them to fuel the military."

"But then the civilian ship will get attacked, and all the crew'll die," Amy said.

"No," Kyrm said, "The idea of taking the civilians onto the safer, better equipped, ships was used on both sides. So the military ships are the main target."

"But you said they weren't," Rory said, once again confused.

"No, they aren't the target for the reason you were thinking. Civilians are the target," Kyrm said.

"Yes, well we can't do anything except tell them to fall back," The Doctor said, "Just tell them to-"

"It's too late," River said.

"What?" John asked.

"They've opened their gun ports," River said.

"Who?" John asked.

"Both the Micans and the Schist."

"Tell them not to fire!" The Doctor practically screamed as he ran around the console, trying to send the message, "If they don't fire, it might give us some time. If they do, we won't, the Schist _will_ attack."

"Too late," River said, "The Mican ship has fired. Direct orders from one of the ships inside the shield… The Protector."

"The backup ship," Kyrm said, then groaned, "Sylm ordered it."

"What? What do you mean?" The Doctor asked.

"Doctor, the Schist have opened fire, they… they're targeting the Mican gunports," River said.

"Mica 1… it's the only ship of its class, the only ship in the Fleet that, techinically, is allowed to carry the Leader. Since the destruction of Mica, we had to decide a back up ship, in case Mica 1 was destroyed. They chose the Protector," Kyrm said, "The only way they would have recognized an order like that from The Protector is if Sylm has declared Mica 1 unsafe. He probably said it was in the hands of escaped prisoners and traitors. Us. And the only way to deal with an unsafe ship…."

"Kaboom." John said solemnly, "So he's just going to open fire on u-"

"Doctor!" River shouted, "The Solace, the ship under fire… it just… it just exploded. It's down."

"What! The _Solace_!" Kyrm said, "You said the Solace?"

"Yes," River said.

"No!" Kyrm said, frantic, "The Solace is the main refuge for the civilians. It would be the first ship they took civilians to, the others would just be backup."

"So we lost how many people?" The Doctor asked.

"The Solace itself held at least two thousand Micans, by itself," Kyrm said, "The two civilian ships together would have held at least three thousand. The maximum civilian capacity for the Solace is two thousand."

"So we lost at least four thousand," The Doctor clenched his fist, "How many in the whole fleet?"

"Um, I'm not sure. There are the three military ships outside the shielding. That's about at least six thousand. The two civilian ships hold around three thousand. We have seven other ships. Mica 1 has about eight thousand, it's the largest, and the Protector holds six thousand. Hmm, the other five… I think there are four civilian ships… totaling in seven thousand I believe, and the last military ship is about one thousand five hundred. At least. I didn't deal directly with the numbers. So at least…" He tried to calculate in his head quickly, "Thirty one thousand, five hundred."

"So we just lost an eighth of the Fleet," John said.

"But the shots were directed at the guns, not the engines," River said, "That doesn't make sense, only an idiot would put that level of explosives near a target. You can't really help with the engines, but the guns?"

"We never keep ammo near the guns," Kyrm said, "Only in combat are they out in the open, and that's after they've been sent through an extremely secure tunnel system. We know how dangerous the ammunition can be on the ships."

"So why did it explode with the force of two engines?" River asked no one in particular.

"What about the Schist, are they still attacking?" The Doctor asked.

"No… and the other ships got your message," River said, "At the moment there's a bit of confusion regarding who to take orders from. The orders from the Protector carry the weight of the Leader, but the ones from Mica 1, us, are from the Leader's ship and carry the codes of his office."

"But why aren't the Schist attacking?" Kyrm asked, "They operate under the 'shoot first, ask questions later' policy."

"That's a policy?" John asked.

"Actually… yes, it is," Kyrm said, "That's the Schist for you."

"Then why aren't they following it?" The Doctor asked, "None of this makes sense- an attack fleet not acting like an attack fleet and a ship that shouldn't explode… exploding."

"And now we've got an incoming message," River said.

"Who from?" John asked. Amy and Rory stood off to the side with Rose, this wasn't exactly their area of expertise.

"The main Schist ship," River said, "The… flagship I believe. And it's the commander on the line."

"Put him through," The Doctor said, coming to stand in front of the console's view screen.

The screen filled with static for a moment before being replaced by the image of a being that looked considerably like a Mican. The skin tone was slightly different without the flaking quality of the Mican's skin.

The Schist's eyes glowed a dull gray.

"Commander of the Schist, I presume," The Doctor said.

"You are slightly correct in that presumption," The commander said, "My name is Trin. I am the Captain of the Igneous, one of our Empires mining ships."

"Yes, now about your mining, the reason this all started again yes?" The Doctor asked, getting straight to the point. Unfortunately, Trin had other ideas.

"In a way. However, back to your idea of me being the 'commander of the Schist.'" Trin said, "I am merely the spokesperson for our fleet, as I was the captain of the Beeaddle, before it's destruction."

Rory held back a snort.

Amy leaned close to him and whispered, "What?"

"I knew there was a theme."

"What do you mean?"

"Schist, Mica, Igneous. They're rocks. And," Rory turned to look at her, "The Beeaddle?"

"Yeah, what about it, that's not a rock is it?" Amy asked.

"The Beeaddle. The Bee… atles. The Beatles," Rory smirked, "They got the rock theme going all right."

Amy just stared at him in confusion. At her blank look he added. "Never mind, I'll explain it later."

"You were on the mining ship destroyed above Earth?" The Doctor asked Trin.

"Yes, well, no," Trin corrected, "I was on the companion ship, in a meeting with its captain about our schedule. Then we were ambushed by three Mican battle ships. They tore apart the Beeaddle, and the Quartz, the companion ship I was on, barely escaped. The ship barely made the jump, we had to evacuate immediately, the engines went into overload, killing a thousand more innocent Schist."

"Ah, yes, well _innocent,_" John said, "We seem to have different understandings of the word."

"And you are?" Trin asked politely.

"Ah, yes, we seem to have forgotten to introduce ourselves," The Doctor said fiercely, "I'm the Doctor."

"And so am I," John added in a way that only added to the seeming threat in the name.

Trin nodded, "Yes, we believed you would be here."

"And why is that?" John asked.

"Well, I believe you questioned our definition of innocence, Doctor," Trin said. He seemed to be able to only think linearly. "In the attack?"

"Yes, about that," John said, "You were mining Earth. He stopped you," He pointed to the Doctor, "Not the Micans."

"No," Trin shook his head, "You are mistaken. That was a rogue ship. They were illegally mining Earth. You stopped them, we were too late. You saved the Earth. We were only mining the Moon of said planet. It is not illegal to mine uninhabited planets or moons. We needed certain materials found only on said moon. We replaced the taken minerals with replicators, so as to not disturb the gravitational pull of the moon."

"And you're saying you were ambushed?" The Doctor asked.

"Yes," Trin said. "And as you seem so suspicious of our intentions- we fired on the _military_ ship, only to disable it's guns. We did not mean to cause any casualties. I believe we were as surprised as you were when the ship was destroyed. We didn't send anything strong enough to cause that level of destruction. We only sent low level El-spikes."

"What?" The Doctor asked.

John explained, "They disable the guns without damaging them. They had them in our universe."

"He's telling the truth," River said. She had moved to the smaller of the console's viewscreens, "Ask him if there's anything that could be set off by the spikes."

The Doctor relayed her question to Trin who immediately answered.

"Yes, there are a few substances, Carlian being the most volatile," Trin said, "But all ships carrying that sort of substance are required by law to have a secondary signal broadcasting that fact at all times. There was no such signal."

"Carlian, one of our ships was carrying that," Kyrm said, "It was a civilian ship, but we dumped it for the reason that if you came and tried to use El-spikes the ship would be destroyed."

"So you think the substances were planted on the ship?" Rose asked, "I'm Rose Tyler by the way." John had insisted on her keeping her last name, he had said it had a certain ring to it.

"We believe so, yes," Trin said calmly.

"Why're you here?" Rose asked, "You aren't here to attack us, so why'd you come?"

"Rose," John had turned around and was whispering, "We don't know that."

"I do," Rose said, then leaned closer, "Little tip from Bad Wolf." She gave him a small smile, "They aren't the bad guys."

"Rose, the last time Bad Wolf gave us a tip, we all died," John pointed out.

"That wasn't real," Rose said, "We wouldn't do that if you were in any danger of any type of permanent death."

"Oh, and not all types are?" John asked sarcastically, he still didn't really trust Bad Wolf.

"Jack." Was all Rose said in answer.

"Fine, we'll take Bad Wolf's… tip," The Doctor said before John could reply, he then turned back to Trin, "Like she said- Why are you here if you aren't here to attack the Micans."

"We are trying to help them," Trin said.

"Yeah right," Kyrm snorted. Trin frowned when he saw the Mican on-screen.

"Tell us what has happened the past year," Trin said.

"What?" Kyrm stared in disbelief.

"Tell us what has happened this past year," Trin repeated with a shrug, "Please, easy enough question to answer."

"Eleven months ago the _Schist_," Kyrm spat out the name, "Mining ship was destroyed over Earth, thanks to the Doctor. Two weeks later, we were informed that it was the Micans who had shot the ship down. A complete lie. Then a week later, your ships came in the sky and tore apart my home planet, dooming our race to extinction. Of the very few rules along with our war," Kyrm paused, "That was one. Never attack the home planet. To destroy the home planet is in a way similar to genocide."

Trin nodded, "Yes, I know. Both sides agreed to that." Then he waved his hand, "Please. Continue."

"After that, we tried to reach the Shadow Proclamation, but the Schist kept catching up to us. We lost three ships. We finally made it to this asteroid field and were going to make our move towards the Proclamation as soon as we knew the coast was clear."

Trin nodded once more, "Now, I will tell you what happened in the past twelve months from my point of view."

With that he started.

"Twelve months ago we received notification that the Ralligstoe," Rory smirked at the name but Trin did not notice and continued, "It was in the process of mining Earth. As soon as we set out to try and stop them, we received another message that the Ralligstoe had been destroyed and Earth was safe. We were grateful for those responsible as the Ralligstoe had been wreaking havoc. The ship carried jump engines so they were capable of going from one end of the galaxy to the other in a matter of hours. After a month, we found we needed resources and my mining ship (not equipped with jump engines after the Ralligstoe disaster) was assigned to the Earth's only moon. We proceeded to start mining, cloaked from the Earth's radars, when we hit a little snag. One of the drills on my ship was jammed, so I went to our companion ship to try and work out a new schedule.

"I had barely been aboard five minutes, when the alarms went off. Four Mican battle ships had jumped into orbit around the planet and were heading straight for us, gun ports open. We tried to run. The Quartz had better engines than the Beeaddle, and no repairs on at the moment. The Beeaddle was destroyed in less than five minutes. On the Quartz, we were able to rig a device capable of a very short jump, into the asteroid belt in the center of the solar system. That was where our main ship, the one with the jump engines, was. The Quartz was heavily damaged and the engines were going into overload, so we evacuated to the main ship. We were surprised at the attack, after the peace treaty, we had believed this wouldn't happen again. We decided to go to Mica, after we had gathered together a fair council from our people. About three weeks after the initial attack, we were just about at Mica. It was then that we realized there was a large fleet of Mican battle ships orbiting the planet. We didn't think much of it at the time, they might have wanted their planet to be protected, thinking we would retaliate after the destruction of the Beeaddle, breaking our peace treaty. Once we were in range, however, they opened fire.

"Not on us, though." Trin said, frowning at the memory, "They opened fire on the planet. There were over a hundred ships, probably the whole military. The planet was destroyed. After that, they set their sights on us. We jumped away. The past few months, the Schist Council has come to a decision that we would help you find a new home, possibly even share our world. We know it would be very hard for both of our peoples, after the years of hatred and warfare. We just don't want to see your whole race wiped out. It wasn't hard to find your ships, they haven't moved in a year." Kyrm was about to say something, but Trin held up a hand and continued, "This asteroid field you're in. It's not the border of the Shadow Proclamation. It is Mica."

"What?" Kyrm nearly screamed at the screen, "We've been running from you the past _year_. We got here a week ago. We've been trying to get to the Shadow Proclamation for a _year_."

"No," Trin shook his head, "A week ago, we registered a power spike on your ships, similar to that of a ship wide Waking."

"Sorry, a what?" The Doctor asked, not familiar with either race.

"It's when someone wakes from cryo sleep," Kyrm said quickly before returning to Trin, "That isn't possible. We've been Awake for the past year, trying to reach the-"

"You haven't been searching for the Shadow Proclamation," Trin said, then gave a small smile, "If you were, they you'd be very bad at a scavenger hunt. Mica and Schist are within the same solar system, the Shadow Proclamation happens to be situated right between them, twenty minutes in an average ship from each. You haven't moved in the past year."

"What about those other ships?" The Doctor asked, "The battle ships that fired on Mica."

"We aren't certain," Trin said, "But we have found pieces of material that would be found on a Mican battle ship in the asteroid field. The way the debris looks, the ships were torn apart from the inside by some sort of explosion, possibly a self-destruct."

"A self destruct?" The Doctor asked, "Honestly, I still have no idea why anyone would think to put a button on your ship that _blows it up_!"

"Only the Leader can authorize a self destruct," Kyrm said.

"Eram did this?" Rory asked.

"No," both Kyrm and Trin shook their head, then paused as they saw the other had mirrored their action.

"It was an unknown source for the order," Trin said, "It carried weight though, we don't know how it was passed, I think it was a prophet."

"Sylm," Rory said.

"The prophet," The Doctor growled, "How could he even see that world, it was _erased_."

"Micans are known to have some psychic ability," Trin said, as though Kyrm wasn't there, "The planet is right on top of a huge rift, along with a secondary reading. No one has ever been able to understand the second reading."

"Hold on, maybe…" The Doctor pulled the smaller viewscreen to him, typing furiously, "Somehow.. the TARDIS… kept records. There!" He jumped away.

John leaned towards it, reading, "What are they?"

"Cracks, from when the universe was doomed to die by TARDIS explosion. The TARDIS exploding caused the end of the universe, but I stopped it by flying this sort of... prison thing with a restoration field into the heart of the explosion. That universe never existed," The Doctor said with a smile, "Amy, remember your bedroom? The Crack?"

"Yeah, of course I do," Amy said.

"Well, like I said, the universe pouring into little Amelia's mind every night as she slept, it's how you brought me back," The Doctor said, "Except… this crack, it's huge, but it's weak. And it's an echo. I erased all the cracks, but this one, it's not a full one, just an echo. It's just strong enough to act as a window. The rift explains how the Micans have the ability to see a tiny bit through time, but not how Sylm saw the Universe that was erased. This does. He saw through the echo of the crack and saw what happened in that universe."

"And he saw what the TARDIS could do," Amy said.

The Doctor nodded, "And he told Eram, got a place as the Prophet, and from there…" He spread his arms wide, "Here we are."

"But the Prophet could only give an Order of the Leader if he was acting in the Leader's place," Kyrm said, "Eram would have had to be in cryo sleep for-"

"He was," Trin said, "That much we could gather, there was only a skeleton crew and the 'leader' awake."

"But that still doesn't explain-" Kyrm was cut off by the Doctor.

"The memories.. the false ones," He said, "No, but there is something that does. It's possible to 'program' someone into believing they lived through something, a year at an Academy, a year running from the Schist… It can also wipe memories, such as- getting into a cryo chamber."

"But why would he put the whole civilization to sleep?" Kyrm asked.

"He was waiting," Rose spoke up.

"What?" The Doctor asked.

Rose moved Ricky to a more comfortable position and walked forward, "Twelve months ago- they found me, they caught me. Three weeks ago, I escaped, got caught by Stormcage- that was for you guys- then Sylm found me again, broke me out of Stormcage and locked me up. He guessed you would be right behind, that's when…Syrn," She said his name quietly with a glance at Kyrm, "First showed up as my guard."

"So this whole thing, it's a trap," John said.

"Yes," The voice crackled over the speakers.

Nearly everyone jumped, Rose stood still.

"Sylm?" The Doctor asked, recognizing the voice.

"Correct," They could almost hear the sneer.

"You blew up your planet… for a trap?" John asked.

"Correct again, Time Lord," Sylm said, his picture coming into view, covering Trin's. By the look on Trin's fading face, he could see Sylm also.

"Why?"

"To lure you here," Sylm said.

"Wouldn't it be easier to, I don't know, just get Rose, lock her up, lure us here, take the TARDIS, all on Mica," The Doctor asked.

"Yes, but then what would my people think?" Sylm asked, "I'm sorry Doctor, but we need a scapegoat."

"So you blew up your planet to make a reason to have a scapegoat so you could justify why you stole the TARDIS?" John asked.

"Yes, otherwise, they would put up a fuss," Sylm said, "All those planets you've saved," He rolled his eyes, "But now, I can take the TARDIS, go back in time, save Mica and help people in the way you never _would._"

"But then Mica would never have been destroyed," The Doctor said, "You never would-"

"I'll figure it out later," Sylm said, "Besides, Eram was right about one thing- you _are_ dangerous, with the TARDIS. The thing Eram was wrong about was that the TARDIS isn't the source of the problem, all those lives destroyed. It's _you_. The TARDIS gives you the means to do it. If I took the TARDIS away from the Doctor, and used it to save the people who deserved to be saved, but you looked the other way, wouldn't that be better?"

"Says the man who destroyed his own people to trap us," John said.

"But there are rules," The Doctor said, "There are rules you have to follow."

"Rules set down by a now dead race," Sylm said, "Now, I think I'm going to use this very useful device my scientists have come up with to take the TARDIS. You can come along for the ride, or you can stay on Mica 1. Either way you won't live. Your choice. Which way do you wish to die?" Sylm smiled darkly and cut off the connection.

A loud, deep sound echoed through Mica 1 and into the TARDIS.

"What's that?" Rory asked.

The Doctor slowly walked out of the TARDIS, "Whichever we choose, we need to stay together, agreed?"

"Yes," John said, "I choose the TARDIS."

Everyone else nodded their agreement.

"Then we need to get Jack," The Doctor said as John ran around the console.

"Trying to make it as hard as possible for them to locate the TARDIS," John said, "They'll find her eventually, but I agree, we need time to get Jack out."

Just as he finished, there was a loud explosion. The group ran out of the TARDIS and to the room with Jack, they were nearly in when a loud voice echoed through the ship.

**_OPERATION 3928 INITIATED. NEW LEADER- MCRAYN SYLM. MICA 1 DECLARED UNSAFE. TERMINATE IMMEDIATEY. PROTECTOR NAMED MICA 1. OPERATION IN PROGRESS._**

"What was that?" Amy asked.

"Sylm," Kyrm said, "He's going to blow us out of the sky."

As if to mark his words, the ship was rocked with another, stronger, explosion. Amy and Rose were knocked into the TARDIS by the force of it, the others thrown about the hall.

"Amy!" Rory yelled as the doors of the TARDIS snapped shut and the time machine started to dematerialize.

"Rose!" John and the Doctor screamed as they ran at the fading blue box.

They both slammed into the wall.

The TARDIS was gone.

Sylm had it.

Rose and Amy were stuck inside.

**Heeeeeeey! :) 21 Chapters! Ya!**

**Okay, so that chapter was as adventure...y, but hopefully the next one will be. What'll happen to Rose and Amy? My gosh!**

**Sorry, just a teensy bit hyper here. Also, I couldn't resist putting in the Beatles and the Rolling Stones(Rock music... rock species... :D). Alrighty then, as always PLEASE REVIEW. IF YOU DON'T I WON'T GIVE YOU A SLICE OF APPLE CRUMBLE PIE. (If you do review you get a virtual slice of Apple Crumble pie. :D My favorite type, no calories at all!) So then! PLEASEPLEASE REVIEW!**


	22. Captured

**First off- I'm really sorry about the long update time between this and the last chapter, school's just started and with that is the dreaded homework. Along with that, got a bit sick. D: Blah. So, I'm better! Yay! 'Cept school's still there... So this story with probably have only two more chapters, so now, here's the new chapter! Hope you like it!  
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**Chapter 22**

**Captured**

"What's happening?" Amy screamed as she held on tightly to the rocking console.

"I think it's that thing Sylm was talking about!" Rose yelled back, having a little trouble, one hand on the console and the other arm wrapped tightly around her infant son.

"What happened to everyone else?" Amy tried to move closer to Rose so they wouldn't have to shout over the racket the TARDIS was making.

"I think they're back on Mica 1," Rose said, trying hard not to fall on her face, or worse-Ricky.

The TARDIS landed with a jerk. The two women barely had time to catch their breath before a loud scraping noise came from the outer door.

"What is that?" Amy asked, Rose seemed to have a better understanding than she did.

"I dunno," Rose said, "Maybe they're trying to get in," She turned back to Amy, "That's normally what they're trying to do."

"God, I wish the Doctor was here," Amy said as she turned away from the door, "Any idea what we should do?" She asked Rose.

Rose stared at the door, which was now bending inward slightly, "Uh," She'd been trained for this sort of thing in Torchwood. Well maybe not this _exactly_, more making decisions that everyone's life depended on while under pressure. This headache of hers sure wasn't helping.

She looked around the large, circular room, "Well," She said the first thing that came to mind, "As the Doctor says when he has no idea what to do- Run!"

With that, the two women, Rose holding Ricky tightly to her chest, ran as hard as they could into the depths of the Time Machine.

* * *

><p>They were gone.<p>

How could they be gone?

The TARDIS shouldn't have been that easy to find.

How was this possible?

What were they going to do?

He needed to stop asking himself these questions as he couldn't answer them.

"Where did they go?" Rory asked, frozen, staring at the blank spot of wall where the time machine now containing his wife had sat a few seconds before.

"The Protector most likely," River said, "That's where Sylm is at least."

"No, that shouldn't have happened," John said, more to himself than to any of his companions, "It shouldn't have been that quick. They shouldn't have found the TARDIS that fast, it should have taken at least ten minutes."

"Maybe the TARDIS had something to do with it?" River said.

"And why would she do that?" The Doctor asked, stepping close to River.

"Well, she _is_ the TARDIS," River said, and after his blank look, she added, "She's a sentient time machine who can see all of Time at once, and who happens to care for her pilot. Maybe she saw something that she thought needed to be done, which involved her not being here. It's not the first time she's ever done this sort of thing."

"But Amy and Rose?" John asked, "Why would she take them?"

"Maybe she needs them," Rory said, "Maybe it's something to do with Rose."

Another blast rocked the ship, "Is there any way we can move the shields around?" Kyrm asked.

"Well we could try taking them down," The Doctor said, moving into the Protection Chamber and leaning over the computer.

"But the power Jack's using to create the shield, we don't know how it works," River pointed out, "It might just turn off, or it could rip a hole in the universe."

The Doctor had frozen, "It's a bit closer to the second guess."

"It's going to rip a hole in the universe?" Rory asked, "You can't just move the shields around this ship?"

"No," John spoke up, "Jack isn't capable, Rose maybe, but she isn't here," He glared out the doorway as though just the force of his gaze would bring the Time Machine back to them.

"And we have another problem," The Doctor said.

"What?" Rory asked.

"Mica 1 can't move, the shields are draining too much power-" The Doctor started.

"I thought the shields took power from the person in the machine," Rory interrupted.

"Yes, but the machine requires a huge amount of power to convert the energy," The Doctor said, "The ship can't move fast enough to get out of range of the Protector, and if we try and take them down, they'll explode."

"They shouldn't explode," Kyrm said, "The shields were designed to be put up or taken down at a moment's notice."

"Well that was with Rose," The Doctor said, "Jack hasn't had the time to gain control over the Time Vortex in his mind. If we take the shields down, the whole asteroid field will be blown to bits, us included. But," He started typing furiously, "If we switch some of these currents around and reverse some of the routes, and…" He trailed off working hard. After a minute, he leaned back, turning towards the others, "There, if we run that program, the machine will change how it's converting the energy, then, if we take down the shields, they'll explode inwards."

"How does that fix anything?" Rory asked.

"Only the ships inside the shield are blown up," The Doctor said.

"Again, how does that fix it?" Rory asked, "At the moment, only one ship, ours, is going to explode. Now you're going to add all the other ships to that?"

"If Mica 1 is destroyed while Jack's still plugged in," The Doctor explained, "The same thing will happen, the whole asteroid field will go up."

"So run the program," Kyrm said, "If we can save those few ships outside the field, and the Schist promise not to harm them, then do it."

"Except…" The Doctor paused, "If I run the program, it'll have to shut down the system, reboot as it were, right after the program starts."

"So we'll blow up," Rory said.

"Yeah," The Doctor said, "So I want to wait until we know there's no other way."

"But there isn't any other way," John said.

"There always is," The Doctor said.

"Rose," River said.

The Doctor nodded.

"Rose?" Both John and Rory said.

The Doctor nodded once more, "Let's just hope the TARDIS knows what she's doing. If not. Then it's back to Plan A." He pointed at the computer.

"So what now?" River asked.

"We wait," The Doctor said.

"For what?" Rory asked.

"For the signal."

"What signal?" Kyrm asked, not following.

"No idea," The Doctor spun the chair so he could put his feet on the table next to the computer, "But we'll know."

"How?" Rory asked once more.

"Knowing the TARDIS, knowing Rose, and knowing Amy, I bet it'll be pretty obvious."

* * *

><p>They walked as quickly as possible, Rose trying to keep Ricky calm, which seemed to be easier than they had expected. Ricky had drifted off to sleep almost as soon as the TARDIS had touched down, Rose suspected it had something to do with the time machine.<p>

"Right, so get as far from the door as possible yeah?" Amy asked as they came to a fork. In her TARDIS, the right one would take them on a circular route back to the console room.

"Yeah," Rose said, not really paying attention. She'd seen a glimpse of something. She tried to remember.

It was the Doctor.

They couldn't protect the ship.

Suddenly, she felt another presence. In her mind. It wasn't threatening, it was more like it had always been there, but only now chose to show itself. It opened her mind to a new idea.

Why hide?

Rose decided not to tell Amy. Why? She didn't really know. She just had a feeling she shouldn't.

"Just a sec," She paused in her walk, turning towards a door that had just appeared. She walked in, showing no surprise when the room was revealed to be something similar to a child's bedroom.

She placed Ricky in the convenient crib resting in the corner.

"Convenient," Amy pointed out.

"I don't want him getting hurt," Rose said, "Neither does she."

"You're okay with leaving him?" Amy asked as Rose stood , shutting the door behind her as she exited. Amy remembered the way she had felt when Melody had disappeared in her arms.

"I trust her," Rose said, she seemed to be picking up the Doctor's habit of referring to the TARDIS as a sentient being, which, as Amy well knew, was true. Rose turned, looking around the hall for nothing in particular. She decided not to tell Amy the real reason why she had left Ricky there.

Amy wouldn't agree.

The door disappeared as soon as it was shut.

"Wish she could do that for us," Amy muttered.

"She's using up too much power, trying to keep her doors shut and keeping Ricky hidden," Rose lied immediately as they continued. She was getting as bad as the Doctor.

* * *

><p>They wandered through the halls, trying to find a good place to hide. They had decided to find a good room to stay in for a couple minutes, letting the TARDIS lure the intruders further inside the ship, before coming out to disable the device that had captured the TARDIS. After the TARDIS could fly freely, they would find some way to pilot her back to the Doctor and work from there.<p>

"How about here?" Amy asked, pointing to the kitchen. The one she was used to was large and L shaped with a heavy wooden door, apparently the one Rose was used to was not. It was smaller, still L shaped, but with only enough room for a small table, and the door would swing open.

"Probably not a good idea," Rose said, looking in along with Amy, "Too much of my kitchen in here. How about here?" She had dodged down a small hall, unnoticed by Amy, and pushed open another door, it showed the theater room.

"I'm not sure, our one has two more doors," Amy said, "And they don't lock. Trust me." She added after remembering one of the many times Rory and she had been 'watching' a movie. That had been an interesting experience.

"Maybe…" Rose walked out of the room, freezing as she did so, "Shh."

_What?_ Amy mouthed to her.

_The door._ Rose mouthed back.

Amy shrugged, shooting her a confused look that said 'What about the door?'

_The noise._

_What?_ Amy tried listening hard, then whispered as quietly as possible, "I don't hear anything."

"Exactly," Rose replied, equally quiet, "That means either they've left, or…"

"They're in," Amy finished. Her heart began to race. They needed to find a place to hide, and fast. She looked around frantically, trying to think of a place to hide. Rose stood calmly, watching the Scottish girl start to panic.

"Amy, it's alright," Rose said, reaching out, trying to calm the younger woman.

"No," Amy shook her head, "This is too much like it."

"Like what?"

"House," Amy said, "We were trapped, in here. He wouldn't let us go. He played with our minds." Amy shook her head, "I can't do this."

Rose saw what was going on. The TARDIS(she refused to think of it as two separate ships, it was technically the same one) had lowered its power usage so it could strengthen the defenses on the door, to protect them, meaning the power going into keeping the two versions of the TARDIS together was much less. It was back to the original method. It was taking too much from Amy.

She had to do this quickly.

"Amy, look, it's alright," Rose tried to calm her down, not even bothering to lower her voice anymore. Killing two birds with one stone. "Come on, I know a place. A good safe place."

Amy nodded, crying.

Rose wished it didn't have to be this way, but she understood what the TARDIS was doing. Rose couldn't take all the work straight away, she wouldn't be able to handle it. So the TARDIS was easing her into it.

Amy was already starting to calm down as they made their way to the room Rose had thought of, possibly with a little nudge from the TARDIS.

She needed to get Amy in the room, just like Ricky.

"Come on!" They sprinted down a nearby hallway, they could now hear the pound of boots on the grating of the section of hallway they were running along now.

"They're catching up!" Amy, just a little ways behind Rose, yelled.

"Faster!" Rose ran harder, Amy trying to keep up with her.

"Rose!" The wall sparked right next to Rose's head, a loud crack came right after. They were shooting at them.

"In here!" Rose spotted their goal and grabbed Amy by the arm. She practically threw the red head into the room and spun on the spot.

Their pursuers were the half-MIcan, half-machine soldiers. Hopefully this would still work.

"Rose come on," Amy grabbed Rose's arm, but Rose pushed her more forcefully back into the room and slammed the door shut, turning back to the hybrids who had now raised their guns.

"Rose!" She heard the muffled shout through the door along with loud banging. It sounded as though Amy was trying to break down the heavy, wooden door.

"Right," She drew herself up to her full height, "There's a good reason why you wouldn't want to do that," She pointed at the guns.

"And why would that be?" The only full Mican, most likely the squadron's leader, asked.

"This," Rose said, at the same time reaching out for Bad Wolf.

Her legs gave out beneath her. She was overwhelmed by the sight in front of her.

It was all of Time. Weaving in and out of her fingers, caressing her cheeks, flooding through the halls. It glowed in everything and in her. The bright glow became more intense, threatening to drown her in its light.

She focused hard on the light, directing it away from her.

It felt like a millennia had passed, but it also felt like less than a millisecond.

She felt the light leave her. She still didn't have as much control on it as she would have liked, but the TARDIS had taken over for her. She looked around the hall. The soldiers were all asleep.

When they woke up, they would have completely new lives. Just like Margaret the Slitheen.

* * *

><p>Amy banged her fist hard on the door, hitting it as though she wanted to break it down, which honestly, she wouldn't mind.<p>

"Rose!" She shouted. She had felt some sort of shockwave, and now the hallway outside was silent. "Rose!"

"Stay there Amy," Rose's voice came through the heavy wooden door.

"No! Let me out!" Amy yelled. She looked around the room for the first time, hoping to find something that would help her get out.

It was a large room. At the far end was a huge fire place, devices and gadgets strewn about on the mantelpiece. There was a large desk against one wall, right next to a huge grandfather clock that was ticking backwards. All the walls were covered by bookshelves packed with books. Some were huge and ancient looking, and others looked suspiciously familiar. Amy thought she caught sight of one of the Harry Potter book.

She walked away from the door, she would wait until she was sure Rose had left before she tried to escape the room once more.

She pulled the large book off the shelf. The publication date was 270384. The book was a well worn copy, obviously been read many times.

Amy looked around the large room once more. There was a large armchair pushed in the corner, a dark leather jacket thrown over one of the arms and an insanely long scarf was thrown over the back of the chair. A long cane was leaning against the chair and a familiar tweed jacket was tossed in the corner.

Amy couldn't help but smile. She had _known_ he had more than one jacket. They were identical.

So that would mean she was in his room.

She caught sight of a pair of Converse placed near the large desk. The desk was covered with bits and pieces of different devices. Amy thought she saw a car antenna, a cricket ball, a plug, something similar to a lightbulb and parts of a cellphone.

A cellphone.

Amy pulled out her own. The Doctor had given it a little upgrade. She dialed Rory's number. Thankfully, his phone had also had the upgrade.

"Amy?" He picked up on the second ring, "Is that you?"

"Yeah stupid face, can't get rid of me can you?" She tried to joke.

"We weren't sure what'd happened," Rory said, "John and the Doctor said the TARDIS shouldn't have been found so easily-"

"Yeah I think I know the reason for that," Amy said, "But are you okay?"

"Um, sort of," There was an explosion in the background, "We just have a slight problem. Are _you_ okay?"

"Yeah, locked in the Doctor's room by Rose to hide from twenty trigger-happy soldiers, but I'm fine," Amy said, nonchalantly.

There was another, much larger explosion over the phone.

The connection cut off.

"Rory?" Amy looked at the phone.

_Call Ended_

"O God, Rory," She tried to call him again, but something distracted her.

"Amy?" Rose's voice floated out of a small speaker on the desk.

Amy looked around, "Hello?"

"Amy, there should be a computer somewhere," Rose said.

Amy looked down, she saw the speaker. Next to it was a beaten up computer screen. Rose's face filled the screen. In the background was the console room.

"Rose?" Amy looked closer at the small screen. It was indeed her.

"Amy, we don't have a lot of time," Rose said, "You need to do something for me."

"No, first you're going to explain," Amy said forcefully.

To her surprise, Rose didn't argue and immediately answered Amy's unspoken questions, "I had to have the soldiers catch up to us so I could stop them, they weren't supposed to get in but… Well you couldn't be there with me, I had to use Bad Wolf. Since they aren't fully human, I couldn't do what the TARDIS did once- revert them back to childhood, I didn't want to kill them, so I just sort of… rewrote their programming. They're just going to be unconscious for a bit. I needed you and Ricky to not be there, you could've been caught in the… blast thing. We have to stop Sylm, if the Doctor pulls down the shields, they'll explode. He can rewrite the program so that it will only explode inwards, but they'll be caught in the blast, the TARDIS might be able to protect us, but not them. If they don't shut down the shields, Mica 1 will eventually explode itself from the attack, but this time the shields would cut off and explode. If the Doctor rewrites the program, the only difference would be that only a couple thousand people die, and he gets to decide when. It wouldn't even accomplish what we would want, but it would stop Sylm."

"Is there another way?" Amy asked, she put aside her mistrust of Bad Wolf for a few moments, worried about the fate of the Fleet.

"Yes," Rose said, "And that's what I'm trying to do."

"But why did you leave me in here?" Amy asked, "I could have helped, you know that right?"

"I'm sorry Amy," Rose said, "You couldn't be with me, if you had, you'd end up like the soldiers. I don't have enough control to make sure you wouldn't be affected, and the TARDIS is using up too much energy keeping them out, only a small group got through before she raised the secondary shields. The most she could do was to protect Ricky and you by using the walls as shields, they absorbed it."

"But why am I still here?" Amy asked, "I can help you just as well out there."

"No," Rose shook her head, "You need to stay there. I know you called Rory. Call him again and get him to tell the Doctor to send the controls to me. It won't be too hard for him."

With that, Rose shut off the connection, leaving Amy staring at the screen. She automatically picked up her phone, called her husband , after he picked up and she made sure he was fine after the large blast, she relayed the message.

"Why?" The Doctor had taken the phone.

"I don't know," Amy said, "She just said to tell you that, I can't get her again," She was hitting random buttons on the screen.

"No, you wouldn't be able to," The Doctor said, "If the TARDIS is helping Rose like you said, she won't let you speak to Rose unless you need to. That's the trouble with having a sentient Time Machine, you don't know why or even what she's doing until it's too late. Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Amy looked around, "Pretty good in fact. I didn't know you liked Harry Potter."

"You're in my study?"

"Rose told me to go in here," Amy stopped pacing, "Doctor, is there anything in here-"

"I know what she's doing," The Doctor said quickly, "Go into the room on the… left. On the bed there should be something like a laptop I guess."

"Small, triangular, bright orange?" Amy asked, "Yeah, Doctor, this looks nothing like a laptop."

"Well it flips open," The Doctor responded.

"Right, so anything that flips open automatically is similar to a laptop," Amy couldn't help but tease him.

"Amy, focus," The Doctor said, "Pull up a map and open a search for concentrations of Artron radiation in this general area."

Amy opened the triangular machine, the screen lit up. There wasn't a keypad and when she tried to touch the screen, it didn't respond, "Right, just one little problem- how?"

It's sort of….psychic." the Doctor said, "Just sort of… ask it."

"Oh right, okay," Amy said sarcastically, she sighed and tried to focus on the question. The screen lit up even more and now there was a three dimensional map hovering in front of her. She could see the whole fleet. There were seven small dots. One was extremely faint, four were strong, and two were amazingly bright. One was next to the four strong and one weak signals. The last, strongest signal, was on the other side of the fleet.

"I've got it," Amy smiled, "What do you want from this?"

"Tell me the coordinates of the two strongest signals," The Doctor instructed.

Amy complied and heard a clatter over the phone line.

"Um, Amy?" It was Rory.

"Rory? What's the Doctor doing?"

"He's, um, just a second," She heard him talking to someone nearby before he answered, "He didn't know where to signal to, or how, but now… hold on." He paused once more before continuing, "Well he knew how, but it would involve the usual- blowing up half the universe. Now he's using the connection between Jack and the TARDIS to send the controls to the TARDIS."

"So what now?" Amy asked.

Rory paused, this time in actual silence, "Well, now it's up to Rose."

* * *

><p>The console room was eerily quiet. She wasn't used to it. Whenever she had been in here before, the Doctor had always been jabbering away about some alien planet or tinkering away at the TARDIS' console. Even when he hadn't been in the room, there always seemed to be some sort of noise. Even silence in the TARIDS was never truly devoid of sound. Until now.<p>

Rose jumped as the TARDIS notified her of the transfer through a quiet beep. She made her way to the screen from her TARDIS.

She had control.

"Right." She said, putting her hands gently on the console, trying to reach out once more, "Let's do this."

She could see her reflection. She couldn't help but gasp, it was the first time she had ever seen herself when Bad Wolf was unleashed. Her eyes glow a bright gold, and the lines around her body seemed blurred, as if she wasn't fully anchored in one single time-stream.

With that, she made her final decision.

* * *

><p>On the flagship, Trin looked out the main window. Their scanners weren't showing them anything, and now that they had lost contact with the Time Lord they had no news.<p>

He watched one Mican ship pummel the other, knowing that was where the Time Lord and his companions were, wishing he could help them. Since the shields were up, there was nothing he could do except wait and hope for the best.

Whatever he was expecting to happen, it was not what occurred next.

He was turning away from the window, intending to visit their tech department in some hope that they had found away to communicate with someone who wasn't Sylm(who happened to be jamming them at the moment), when he was nearly blinded by an explosion.

The barely visible shield around the Fleet had erupted in an invisible explosion. The only reason Trin recognized it as an explosion was the way the Mican ship that had been firing on the second was torn apart. The part that had nearly blinded him had been caused by that ships engines.

And then.

No more rubble. No dust cloud. Nothing.

The ship had disappeared.

***Sigh* That took forever to write. I had about four possible outcomes and liked none of them, then two nights ago I woke up in the middle of a thunderstorm and had a random 'aha!' moment. So as said before- There will most likely be only two more chapters, one being the last chapter and one being the epilogue. My gosh, it's been over a month, :). A month filled with excitements, sickness... and that dreaded thing called school.**

**You know what would make me(and you) fell better?**

**Ya! You guessed it! Here's a slice of pie!*hands slice of pie.* REVIEWS!**


	23. The End is a Beginning

**A/N- Sorry for the extremely long hiatus in writing this, especially since this was the last chapter. I got distracted by school, another fanfic, the arts, school, band, and more school. **

**I don't know why, but I feel like it has been so long I must say this**

**I own nothing! Except for Certilianshes, Planet of the Spoons! Nah, I don't, though I wish I did. If I couldn't have Doctor Who, I would have Certilianshes, just so I could say I owned the Planet of the Spoons.**

**So, ignoring the randomness of my previous statement, here's the final chapter- hope it doesn't disappoint-  
><strong>

**Chapter 23**

**The End is a Beginning**

Rose felt the light fade. She felt dizzy and she was pretty sure she had a migraine coming on.

After standing for a few moments, staring distractedly around, she decided to sit down in case her legs gave out beneath her again.

"Stop making so much noise," She groaned. The TARDIS was spinning and jumping around her, and there was a loud pounding that was getting progressively louder.

"Rose!"

That was Amy.

"Stop shouting," Rose said, rubbing her temples, "Got a headache."

"Sorry," Amy said, kneeling down. She was holding something. More specifically- someone. "Ricky's okay."

Rose took the child in her arms just as he started to wake.

"What now?" Amy asked quietly.

"The TARDIS is in flight," Rose said, her mind working with surprising clarity considering the migraine she had, "The more traditional flight anyways. She doesn't want to do too much time travel, the effort to go into the vortex might split the two TARDIS' apart, she already used up a good amount of power sending those Micans that were in here away. Although, I'm not too sure about her accuracy, she doesn't do that too much. I'm not sure if she's ever done it before," Rose rambled feebly.

"So she's actually flying?" Amy asked, trying to be helpful as she wasn't quite sure where the medicine cabinet was with the two TARDIS' as one at the moment.

Rose nodded, "It'll be about fifteen minutes."

"What happened?" Amy helped Rose up onto the captain's chair, "There was some sort of explosion and the TARDIS was hit by something. As soon as it was over, the door opened and I came straight here."

"Sylm's gone," Rose said.

"You killed him?" Amy asked, surprised.

"No," Rose shook her head. She wasn't _that_ much like her husband to immediately turn to the option that involved blowing the enemy out of the sky. Besides, he had gotten past that long ago. The Doctor had been right, she _had _been good for the human Doctor.

"I don't understand," Amy said honestly, "If Sylm isn't dead, then how's he gone. I had this sort of scanner thing, after the explosion, it showed that the shields were gone."

"Yeah, those were the shields," Rose said.

"But the Doctor said they would destroy anything inside them, are Rory and the others okay?" Amy said, standing up swiftly as though there was something she could do to help them.

"They're fine Amy," Rose reassured her, "I managed to take control, with some help from the TARDIS, both over when the shields were turned off, and where they were. As soon as we gained control, the Doctor had no power over when they were shut down. Jack had no control over either, he was just providing the energy, the TARDIS helped me focus it around the Protector."

"But we're on the Protector," Amy replied.

"Not anymore," Rose said, smiling now, "The energy from the shields come from the energy that is the TARDIS' soul, that's what Bad Wolf is."

"But you just murdered all those people," Amy pointed out, starting to get worried about Rose's reaction to what had happened.

"No," Rose was smiling even more broadly, "'Cause, like I said just now, that energy, it comes from the TARDIS' soul, and since Jack just recently looked into the heart of the TARDIS, that energy wasn't fully disconnected from her. With the help of the TARDIS, I used Bad Wolf to change what would happen to the ship. The engines exploded, but the ship itself, it's still there."

"What?" Amy was immensely confused.

"What Sylm saw, it was the TARDIS causing the destruction of a Mican ship. He saw the power of the TARDIS, but he thought the Doctor was in control just now," Rose started to explain before Amy cut her off.

"But that was years ago," Amy said.

"Yeah, but he saw that, along with the whole 'erased universe' stuff, he made a plan to lure you here. To get you here, he had to attack the Schist, have them come to Mica, destroy Mica, blame the Schist, and the rest you know. All leading down to a couple minutes ago. I sort of broadcasted the image of the Protector 'exploding' so Sylm in the past would go through all the motions of the current Sylm," Rose said, "Paradox."

"That makes no sense," Amy said blankly.

Rose grinned, "Yeah, well if Sylm had seen only that one vision- of the TARDIS exploding and causing the end of that universe then he would have seen the power of the TARDIS but not the control the Doctor had over it."

"As the pilot," Amy said.

"Yeah, he would've realized _someone_ had to pilot it, but he would end up finding out who later," Rose said, "He needed to see the explosion and the bit where the Doctor handed over the controls, meaning he was the one with the most control over the TARDIS' power."

"But the TARDIS has the most control," Amy said, slightly confused.

"Yes, but I wasn't going to let him know that," Rose laughed, "Then he'd have just gone off and caught one of the Doctor's past companions, not coming into contact with the Doctor at all until he wanted to take the TARDIS. He would've taken the key and then figured out some plan to lure the TARDIS, taken the Doctor out, executed him as a war criminal. In his research of the TARDIS he would've found information about the Time Lords and probably about the Doctor in relation to them. He wouldn't have been paying attention at all to the Doctor, but since he got the image of the Doctor causing the 'destruction' of the Protector, he found out all the things he could about the Doctor. He found out all the things the Doctor has done, including those that helped the Micans in the past, sometimes indirectly."

"So he found out that if he just killed the Doctor-"

"It wouldn't be too simple yeah," Rose finished for Amy, "The Micans would've heard of the Doctor and would have protested to his execution. He also found out that just taking the TARDIS wouldn't be that simple either. So he came up with this plan, thinking that he would be rewriting time, knowing about the explosion beforehand. He planned on being off the ship by the time, being able to show his people who had caused the destruction and put the blame on the Doctor. They would be too outraged aobut it to care if the Doctor was executed, actually they would want it. At this point, losing that many people is too big a blow to their species."

"But you said Sylm's gone, meaning he was on the ship at the time," Amy said, getting more confused by the second.

"True,," Rose smiled once more, "But I had control over what he was seeing, so I sent a false image too. He thought he had half an hour before the ship was destroyed."

"But he was already firing on Mica 1," Amy said, "I thought you said he would wait."

"But then he could take care of the Doctor without him interfering too much," Rose said, "The Doctor would be dead, then the ship explodes. Sylm comes out of it saying he had uncovered a plan by the Doctor to kill him and that the crew of the Protector had sacrificed their lives for Sylm, taking out the Doctor, but dying in the process. Understand?"

"No," Amy said, "Not one bit. But how do you know all this?"

"Bad Wolf," Rose said simply, "Oh and I'm the same way. But just simply- Sylm's gone, I set off the remote teleporters so all the Protector's crew has been moved to the other ships. They'll be unconscious a bit, but they'll be fine."

"But how's Sylm gone?" Amy asked, worried that Rose was going to get annoyed by Amy's constant questioning. The blond just smiled once more and answered.

"Well, not really gone," Rose said, "Moved, like the crew, except now he's going to have an interesting conversation with our Schist friend." She smiled darkly.

Amy frowned, "I'm not saying he doesn't deserve it, but I didn't think you were like this," She said, "I thought you would be one to try and forgive him."

"Not for this," Rose shook her head, "You're right, I normally am, but this time. No. He was trying to play with time without understanding it. He drew no lines. He would've kept on going. He killed his whole race Amy. He kidnapped me and my child, and _innocent child_, and he was willing to let us die just so he could get his hands on the TARDIS. Even though he wanted the TARDIS to save people, it wasn't the right way. If he was willing to do all this just to get the TARDIS, he shouldn't be allowed anywhere near her."

Amy nodded silently in agreement just as the familiar grinding noise started up, "We landing?"

Rose nodded, "Yep, should be."

Amy stood slowly and walked to the door. She put her hand on the door handle and took a deep breath. She didn't know what to expect- the same, boring hallway they had left, or debris floating in space.

She opened the doors.

* * *

><p>"What just happened?" Rory shouted over the loud alarms sounding all over the ship. The whole Fleet seemed to be asking the same question.<p>

"Rose," Was all the Doctor would say.

"And what's that supposed to mean, Sweetie?" River asked tightly, wincing as a fourth alarm added itself to the din.

"She caused a paradox," John said loudly, trying to be heard over the announcements.

"A what?" Kyrm asked.

"Paradox," The Doctor said, kneeling over Jack's body, which had slid out of the chair right after the Protector's destruction/disappearance, "She caused something to happen- the Protector's destruction, which caused Sylm to see the power of the TARDIS, which then led to current events. Just a guess, but I'm pretty sure it's close. It would explain how Sylm knew about us, he saw this happening and thought he could stop it. It would also explain how this," He pulled out the book from the TARDIS library somewhere from deep within his jacket," Was written. I must have picked it up sometime in the future, in my past…" He scrambled back, dropping the book as Jack's body jerked and he sat up, gasping for air.

"Did it work?" Was his first question.

"Not in the way we were expecting," The Doctor said, looking over at John.

"Where're Rose and the TARDIS?" Jack asked quickly, taking in the room and the view into the hallway.

"They should be coming soon," The Doctor said, "If all goes to plan."

"What happened?" Jack asked, "You said it-"

"Happened differently than expected," The Doctor said, leaning back on his heels, "The ship Sylm was on… it… disappeared."

"What?" Jack jumped up, the Doctor catching him as he stumbled, "What do you mean?"

"Rose took the power, and somehow caused a paradox," The Doctor said, "We sent the control over the shields to Rose through Amy."

"So, Sylm's gone?" Jack asked.

"Yes," The Doctor said, he was about to continue, but the alarms suddenly cut off. He paused in surprise, then, regaining his thoughts, he opened his mouth to speak, but Rory cut him off.

"Um, Doctor?" He was staring at a small screen set into the wall, "Well, actually… Kyrm."

"Yes?" Kyrm moved over to him as the Doctor looked up.

"This thing-"

"The on-ship communicator?" Kyrm asked.

"I guess… well, it's got your name on it," Rory pointed to a message scrolling across the screen.

"Assistant to the Former Leader Sylm- Kyrm, send reply signal to notify guards of whereabouts to confirm safety."

"It seems like a trap," River pointed out, "If they're still looking for y-"

Heavy footsteps sounded from corridor outside. The group froze, trapped.

The footsteps came closer, until a large, uniformed Mican came into view.

It was a hybrid.

It held up its gun as it walked into the room, changing target every second. It stopped in front of Kyrm, towering over the young Mican.

"Yes?" Kyrm asked, his voice surprisingly steady.

"Kyrm." It was more of a statement than a question.

Kyrm stared.

"What?" He stuttered.

"Kyrm." The Hybrid stated once more, its voice rough and grating.

"What? How? How are you…?" Kyrm stood with his mouth hanging open.

"What? What is it?" John asked, concerned, but making sure he didn't do anything to cause the gun in the Hybrid's hand to be fired.

"You will not… s- s- speak," The hybrid said, having slight trouble on the last word, as though it was unused to speech.

"The voice… it's not coming from the speakers," Kyrm said, staring, "The hybrid… it's the hybrid." At their blank looks, Kyrm explained, "Hybrids don't speak."

"Kyrm." The hybrid said once more.

"Yes?" He asked, looking more than slightly worried.

"You are in command."

"Excuse me?" Kyrm stared. He hadn't known exactly what he was expecting- probably to be arrested, possibly thrown out an airlock- but that?

"You are in command," The hybrid continued at Kyrm's continuous stare, "Deceased Former Leader Eram was your commander. You were second in command."

"I was his assistant," Kyrm pointed out, the hybrid continued without a pause as three more hybrids marched into the room, pointing their guns at the rest of the group.

"You are the rightful Leader. Former Leader Sylm was not appointed officially, leaving you the True Leader. Deceased Former Leader Eram left no successor, leading to his second in command taking up his now vacant role." As time passed, the hybrid seemed to be grasping speech even more easily, now speaking with less stutters, and more confidence.

"So you aren't here to arrest me?" Kyrm asked, hopeful.

"Negative."

"Then why the guns?" Kyrm asked.

"They are prisoners," The hybrid stated.

"No, no they aren't," Kyrm said, "They helped stop Sylm."

The guns were dropped to the guards sides.

"Affirmative, Prospective Leader Kyrm," the hybrid said, turning to march out of the door, followed by the three other hybrids. As it left, the hybrid quickly took the message asking for Kyrm to let his location be known down. "You are expected on the bridge in three hours to meet with the Schist representative."

With that, the part Mican, part Machines left.

No one spoke for a few minutes, Kyrm too shocked with what had just occurred, and the others not sure how to break the awkward silence.

After a few awkward minutes, the silence was broken by an achingly familiar sound.

"They're back!" The Doctor jumped up from his uncomfortable position on the floor, kneeling next to Jack, and ran out into the hallway. John raced up to stand next to him as the large blue box materialized right in front of them.

The door swung open to show a concerned looking red head. As soon as she caught sight of the two men, however, she grinned broadly.

She jumped through the door and enveloped the Doctor into a tight hug, looking over his shoulder as she pulled away and, seeing her next target, ran around him to pull Rory into a tight hug, this time with a light kiss.

"You're alright!" She said, "We were so worried. We saw what they were doing to the ship."

"'Course we're alright," John said, "Why wouldn't we be? How's Rose?"

"I'm fine," Rose pulled him into a hug, making sure Ricky was squished, "The three of us are fine." She looked over at Jack, "The TARDIS should've pulled the Bad Wolf out of you by now."

The immortal nodded, then asked, "So. What now?"

"Well, Kyrm here's got a meeting with the representative from the Schist," The Doctor said, "We've got to get River and Jack back to their respective timelines and-"

"My Doctor, Ricky and I'll head back to Pete's World," Rose cut the Doctor off, John nodding awkwardly as the Doctor stared at the two.

After a moment, he nodded sadly, "And you three'll head back to Pete's World."

"So what's this about Kyrm?" Amy asked, "He isn't going to be arrested?"

"No…" Kyrm said, "Apparently I've been appointed leader… by the hybrids."

"Oh, sorry about that," Rose said, smiling feebly, "I didn't know how to stop some Micans that got into the TARDIS so I did the Margaret thing…"

"You meant the reverting to childhood?" Jack asked, standing up slowly.

"Not really," Rose said, "More giving them more freedom of thought. But the TARDIS may have sent them back to the Fleet a little… early. Maybe a week at most." At the Doctor's confused look, Rose explained, "When our TARDIS was growing, the only thing that could give her sufficient power was this teleport… thing, not quite sure what it was. Now she has something like teleport capabilities, short distances. But she can mix time travel with it, not very well though."

"How many did this happen to?" Kyrm asked, slightly worried.

"Um, about seven," Rose said sheepishly.

"But since they're part machine they've shared the information," John said.

"What?" The Doctor asked, still not too familiar with the species.

"The Hybrids are part Mican, part machine. The best parts of each, for example, they don't have as much free-will as a full Mican, but they have more than a computer, but they have the ability to communicate with other Hybrids without speech. Sort of like an internet chat-room, but more psychic…but not…" John trailed off.

"So the freedom Rose gave them's spread," Jack said.

"Basically," John said.

"Wonderful," Kyrm sighed, "We have to deal with the Schist, finding a new Leader, and now we'll have to figure out how to work with the Hybrids."

"I can help out," Jack offered, "I mean, just making sure everything works out, no Pro-Sylm's going on rampage…" he said to the Doctors.

"As in, you don't want to go back to Stormcage," the Doctor said.

"Pretty much, yeah," Jack said.

"Well, if you promise not to leave until everything's settled…" The Doctor said.

Jack nodded, "I won't."

"Well, it seems like it's coming to goodbye," The Doctor said, nodding toward Kyrm and Jack. He turned around, heading towards the TARDIS as the others said their goodbyes, not liking the feeling of leaving his friend here. He hated goodbyes.

Sometimes he just wished he could keep them there, on the TARDIS, travelling with him forever. But even in his dreams, reality would come forward and point out the obvious. He was a nine-hundred and eleven year old time lord who regenerated, not aged. Life on the TARDIS was hard. Sure, it gave you freedom and adventure, but with those came danger and sorrow. One day, as he had done with Rose, and Jack already, he would have to say farewell to the Ponds, and one day(in his mind) would subjugate River to her fate in the library.

"Good luck," Jack said, just as the Doctor's hand rested on the door-knob.

"What?" The Doctor turned, looking past John, Rose, Amy, Rory, and River who were all waiting for him.

"Good luck," Jack repeated, shrugging, "You never know, you might need it. The world could be ending, time could be stopping, but it never hurts to have too much luck."

The Doctor nodded, still not understanding, but now having a lurking suspicion that it was, at this moment, not he who was the older of the pair.

"Well… goodbye," the Doctor said, pushing the doors open and stepping inside, followed closely by the other five who were not staying.

The TARDIS was quiet for a moment before John spoke.

"Well, I guess we should start trying to figure out how to put the TARDIS' back to normal," He said, glancing at the Doctor.

"Yeah, that'd probably be a good place to start," the Doctor said, then glanced at River, "Then, we can send you back to Stormcage ….."

"I think I've an idea how," Rose said from where she was standing next to John.

The Doctor looked at her expectantly.

"The magnet," She said simply, "I'm not sure what, but the magnet has something to do with it."

"What do you think? Press the threatening button?" John joked, reminding the Doctor of himself right after that particular regeneration.

"What do you think'll happen?" Rory asked, "I mean, those were keeping it stable right?"

"Well, since we're in the vortex, it'll be more stable," The Doctor said.

"And we can steer it to a…particular place to give us more of a chance of making it through to Pete's World," John said, "Since the TARDIS' are connected both with the magnet and the fact that, originally, my TARDIS was a part of his." He nodded to the Doctor, "It might give us a chance, two TARDIS' are stronger than one."

"So, are we going to try it?" River asked.

"No point in waiting," Rose said.

"Would you like the honors?" John asked jokingly, motioning towards the magnet underneath the console.

"Okay," She said quietly, handing Ricky to him and looking beneath the console, she tried to push one of the two buttons on its surface, but it wouldn't budge. She tried both at the same time, "It's not budging."

"Here," Amy knelt down next to her, "I'll take one."

Rose nodded.

They proceeded to reach under the console, to where the magnet was. As they pressed down on the buttons, needing both hands for a single button, there was a quiet 'click', followed by the sound of the Time Rotor starting up.

The coral columns and grating disappeared as the TARDIS returned to normal, but Rose, John and Ricky stayed in place.

"Do you think it worked?" Rose asked quietly.

"Only one way to find out," John said as he moved to the doors

"Oh, I'm starting to _hate_ this beach," John muttered as he opened the doors and stepped out of the Doctor's TARDIS to see an identical blue box sitting ten feet away. The two police boxes were sitting awkwardly in the middle of Dårlig Ulv-Strande, or better known as Bad Wolf Bay.

"Well, that's us I guess," He pointed at his TARDIS as he turned around to face the Doctor.

"You're sure you want to stay here?" The Doctor asked, looking at Rose.

"Yes," John answered for the both of them, "Torchwood needs us here, Pete can always use the help of the TARDIS or one of us since we know more about aliens."

"Besides," Rose turned to look at the Doctor, her hair blowing into her face, "This place, it's become home. I mean, my mum's here, Pete's here, we've got friends here like Jake. Back in your universe, everyone thinks I'm dead…"

The Doctor nodded, even though he had known it, he had needed her to say it one last time.

"Well then, it seems this is goodbye… again," He said with a forced smile.

Rose smiled sadly, the silence think in the air.

The two Time Lords stayed silent awkwardly for another minute before both starting to talk at once.

"Guess we should get-"

"We should probably head-"

They both laughed awkwardly before Rose spoke, "Goodbye you three."

Amy and Rory said there farewells as the Doctor stood back. When Rose got to him, he just smiled.

"Have a good life, Rose," He said, "And... good-bye."

This was the hardest farewell he had ever had with her. The first time, there was no possible way for her to stay with him. The second time, there was a chance, but he thought it would be better if she stayed with the meta-crisis. This time, however, there was nothing stopping them from staying in this universe. No impending universe-tearing-apart explosions or threats. It was just a simple choice. Stay or go.

And she had chosen to go.

"Bye Doctor," She smiled.

"Ready to go?" Amy asked the Doctor. He nodded and turned to face his own TARDIS. He walked back through the doors, turning around to close them, and exchanged a small smile with his… former twin.

As the doors shut, the Doctor raced up the steps which had reappeared when the TARDIS' had split apart.

"So." He said, looking around at River, Rory, and Amy, "Next stop Stormcage?" He pointed at River.

River shrugged, "I guess, it's been fun" she gave him a smile that made him blush slightly, though why exactly, he wasn't sure. "What about you three?"

"Oh, you know, back to time travel-" The Doctor started.

"Saving the universe," Amy cut him off.

"And staying away from 'Planet of the Trash Dumps'," Rory ended.

"Sounds like a good plan," River laughed quietly, "So. Stormcage?"

The Doctor nodded as the TARDIS flew off through the vortex, using the remnants of the tunnel created by the magnet to return to their universe.

A few minutes later, the TARDIS sat quietly in a dark, cold hallway. The doors swung open and River stepped out, turning around to say goodbye to her parents and the Doctor. Seconds later, she was sitting quietly on her bed, scribbling in her blue notebook as though she hadn't moved from the spot.

* * *

><p>The Doctor sniffed, possibly holding back tears, before reverting to his normal, overly-energetic self.<p>

"So! Ponds! Where to now! How about that planet, I was talking about?" He ran up to Amy and spun around the console, energetically pulling levers, pressing buttons and flipping switches.

Amy and Rory stayed quiet as their friend rambled about all the alien planets they could possibly go to. It seemed to help him. That was the problem with living forever, you lose friends, people you love. Sometimes they are forcibly taken, and sometimes they choose to leave. Either way, it hurts.

But sometimes, just the knowledge that they are out there, still living a great life

"So, what now? Before another trip," Amy asked, leaning against the console as the Doctor moved away from the door. She pretended she hadn't noticed him holding back tears through both farewells.

"I don't know… tea?" The Doctor asked, "Then we could go somewhere… how about that planet I was talking about! Like I just said!"

"What planet?" Amy asked as Rory said "The diamond one?"

"Exactly," The Doctor grinned pointing at the nurse.

"Right, so tea, then trespassing," Rory said as Amy shrugged.

"Well we could go there or Certilianshes," The Doctor said with a fake frown directed at Rory.

"Certi-what?" Amy asked, playing along, as they always did after an adventure, making the best of everything.

"Planet of the Spoons!" The Doctor grinned, "The people were part of a fleet fleeing from an enemy empire that was taking over their planet. So they fled and went to find a new planet, but one of the ships got separated. Since they left the planet in a hurry, they didn't have that many good ships, I think it was something like a cargo ship, a merchant ship that sold hats, and loads more, but one other was one that carried and made spoons. That was the ship that got separated. They landed on this new world with nothing but a million spoons, they ended up surviving by using the spoons as weapons, harvesting tools, and later, building supplies."

"I vote for the diamond planet," Amy said while jokingly raising her hand, Rory nodded.

"Fine," The Doctor said, moving away from the console, "I'm off to make some tea. Want some?"

"Yeah, we'll be there in a bit," Amy said, before turning to Rory, "Do you think he'll be fine?"

"What? After meeting up with his old friend… girlfriend… with his clone. It'll take a bit, even for him," Rory said.

"That, and being accused of all those things Sylm was saying," Amy said.

"Sylm was more than a little crazy, Amy," Rory assured her, "He probably blew half of those accusations up ten times what they originally were. I wouldn't worry too much."

"Still…" She said, "It reminded me of Demon's Run."

"How?" Rory asked, frowning at the memory.

"They took a baby, a baby of a friend of the Doctor's, and were going to use it in a war," Amy said, "I can't help but think-"

"We saved Ricky, and River's fine now," Rory said, "She isn't trying to blow the Doctor's head off anymore. It wouldn't be the start I would choose for our daughter, but at least she's fine now, that's all I could wish for her."

Amy glanced at Rory, surprised at the sincerity.

"Yeah…" She sighed, before looking up from her feet, "So. Tea?"

"Definitely," Rory said as they walked out of the console room into the depths of the ship as the TARDIS spun quietly through the Time Vortex.

**Right… so… I may do an epilogue, if you have any questions about what happened as it got… slightly confusing… towards the end, I will write an epilogue that will answer said questions, or if not possible I will just try and clarify.**

**I'm honestly really sorry about how long this took, really really really really bad writer's block on this, and I just fail at conclusions(for example I just got an essay back that I could have gotten an A on easily, but the conclusion sucked so I got a B+ it was so bad), and I didn't want that to happen to this so I tried really hard to make it work. Then, I had an idea of how to work around it… but it didn't fit and it turned into a new story… which distracted me even more and then BundleofContradictions reviewed(thanks once more for motivating me even more) and I realized how long it had been and that exams were coming up and… yaaaaa… *tries Puss in Boots eyes*…*Fails miserably***

**Well, now that this really long A/N is over, please tell me what you think/any questions you may have in a review. Again, sorry about the long break between chapters. And with that, adieu.(I don't even take French... Adios or Vale would be more appropriate) Oooh, Vale, both current and a Doctor Who reference- so with that, Vale!  
><strong>


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